Mandatory minimums are state and federal laws that demand minimum prison sentences for certain crimes. Regardless of the facts of the crime, a judge cannot legally impose a shorter sentence. Here are some examples of minimums from the District of Columbia:
Carjacking While Armed: 15 years
First-degree Murder: 30 years
Murder of a Police Officer: Life Without Release
Although mandatory minimums generally vary from state to state, the “three strikes law” is a common feature of many state legislations. Its details vary, but its name comes from the mandatory life sentence (or 25 years, depending on the state) for an offender’s third violent felony.
Mandatory minimums are also common in drug possession or trafficking charges. The minimum usually varies by the type and amount of the drug. Here are some minimums for drug trafficking charges in Alabama:
2.2 - 100 lbs of Cannabis: 3 years and $50,000 fine
4-14 grams of morphine, opium, or heroin mixture: 3 years and $50,000 fine
10 or more kilos of cocaine: Life
(My examples were basically chosen at random---I didn’t pick them for my argument, I just wanted to give some examples because so many articles I read in my research would never talk about what the sentences were actually like)
Mandatory minimums only became popular starting in the 70s and 80s. Politicians wanted to appear “tough on crime” and passing mandatory minimum legislation seemed like a great way to prove this to the public.
Why be “tough on crime”? It’s important to remember that there is nothing valuable in punishment for the sake of punishment. But being “tough on crime” could have positive effects if it deterred people from committing crimes in the first place so they would not receive whatever harsh minimum there was. Unfortunately for mandatory minimums, increasing the severity of punishment “does little” in deterring crime, nor do drug imprisonment rates have any impact on drug use, drug arrest, or drug overdoses.
So why keep mandatory minimums if they fail to accomplish their one goal? No reason. Mandatory minimums harm the criminal justice system and the criminals within it and violate the CST tenet of uplifting human dignity (next week).
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