Mandatory Sentencing Laws Criticized August 18, 2003
News Summary
Even as a U.S. Supreme Court justice criticized the federal sentencing laws that impose mandatory-minimum sentences, especially for drug cases, it is unlikely that Congress will change the laws, Fox News reported Aug. 13.Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy recently criticized the federal law when he spoke recently with the American Bar Association (ABA).
"In my view, our resources are being misspent. Our punishments are too severe and our sentences are too long," Kennedy said. "I can accept neither the necessity nor the wisdom of federal mandatory-minimum sentences. In all too many cases, mandatory-minimum sentences are unjust."
Passed beginning in 1988, the laws are aimed at closing sentencing disparities and bringing consistency to the manner in which federal judges hand down their sentences.
"You would get a very different sentence for the same offense depending upon which judge you appeared in front of -- was he Maximum Mike or Minimum Mary -- and where the offense was," said Paul Rosenzweig, senior legal research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
As a result of the law, the prison population has soared. For example, the number of inmates in federal prisons increased 41 percent since 1995.
Rosenzweig said the statistics show that the law has worked. "I think there's no doubt that increased incarceration has the effect of deterring other criminal conduct. Our entire system of justice is based upon the idea that deterrence works, that prison works."
Recently, Congress ordered the Justice Department to monitor the judicial branch. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft sent a directive to federal prosecutors requiring them to notify him of any federal judge who departs from the sentencing guidelines.
The ABA is currently studying the issue and will make recommendations at a later date.
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