Effects of Mandatory Minimums
Effects of Mandatory Minimums
Mandatory minimums became popular in the 1980s as they enabled the war on drugs. They were widely expanded under the tough on crime era as Ronald Reagan, George H.W Bush, and Bill Clinton fathered the tough on Crime Movement. These presidents hypothesized that mandatory minimums would be effective deterrents of crime. This precept enabled them to gain bipartisan support for their policies. Furthermore, prosecutors greatly prefer these minimums because it gives them leverage. They are able to negotiate more with defendants and often avoid a costly trial. Proponent argues that Mandatory minimums make the judicial system fairer in that it supports “blind justice”. No matter one’s ethnicity or social standing they will face the same charges for their crime as an anyone else. However, the majority of these notions are hypothetical and there are numerous negative repercussions of mandatory minimums.
Mandatory minimums are considered to be the main cause of prison overcrowding. This is because the average sentence for drug trafficking has doubled from four to nine and a half years since 1980. This rise has quadrupled the prison population to over 2 million since 1980. It further disproportionately affects minorities; 74.4% of sentenced individuals were black and Hispanic. On an ethical level, these minimum sentences disregard context and hand over sentencing power to prosecutors. Judges are no longer able to determine what the punishment should be when all cases are unique and should be treated specially. This means that an individual with no previous criminal history who doesn’t take a plea deal and loses their case receives a higher punishment than a gang member to takes a plea deal. Overall, mandatory minimums have not decreased crime, ruined lives, and risen the American prison population.
This was a really interesting blog post and I didn't even know previously that there were mandatory minimums for certain crimes that are committed. To me they really aren't benefitting anyone so it just makes it so that more people are locked away for longer and it is wasting a large amount of money. One statistic I had found was that while the U.S. has around 5% of the world's population it has 25% of the imprisoned population. This is in due to the the minimums that are set.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting blog post because you mention how the prison population went up 4 times because of these mandatory minimums. These laws are completely unfair, and do nothing more than punish taxpayers and low level offenders. I say that it affects taxpayers because it increases the amount of their money that is going towards paying for a would be productive member of society. So if that expense goes up by 4x means that more taxpayer dollars are getting wasted. Also, for low level offenders, they do not deserve to be locked up for 9 years for themselves destroying their own bodies. The drug punishments are extreme and putting them in prison does not help them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I think it's ridiculous to have a mandatory amount of jail time for certain crimes even though every case is different. Two people committing the same crime can have wildly different circumstances, so it makes no sense to hold them both accountable under the same amount of minimum time. Mandatory minimums blatantly disregard the judge's ability to give a fair punishment, and is an insult to the system which is supposed to provide justice for everyone.
ReplyDelete