One of the leading contributing factors to American prisons
being so full is mandatory minimum sentence length. This means judges have to
give certain crimes a mandatory amount of prison time regardless of the
circumstances under which the crime was committed. This has caused many
unnecessarily long sentences, costing years off the lives of non-violent
offenders.
Minimum sentencing lengths began in the 1980’s when America
decided to crack down on crime. As a result the number of incarcerated adults
in America quadrupled. According a Washington post study that means 1
in every 100 American adults is incarcerated.
Almost 2,000,000 people.
Aside from boosting the prison population, Mandatory
minimums do not reduce crime. The fact is, at the time of the crime most
offenders are not even aware of the mandatory minimum placed on their offense.
They do not think they will be caught or prosecuted; they are just trying to
make money and survive.
Furthermore, minimum sentencing laws never effect big drug
kind pins they way you would hope they do. Small man drug dealers are caught on
the streets and have no information regarding the rest of the drug operation
because they are too low to know anything of value. But on the rare occasion
big drug kingpins are apprehended, they can take a plea deal and avoid serving
long minimum sentences, deals that low-level drug dealers do not have the Intel
to take. So these laws are not even serving their indented purpose of keeping
big drug dealers in jail longer.
Of course one of the main issues with keeping prisoners in
jail for longer is the cost to the taxpayer.
Not only is the cost of keeping a man in prison a waste, but the cost of
the arrest, prosecution and conviction waste millions of taxpayer dollars every
year.
Here are some examples of people whose lives have been
ruined thanks to minimum sentencing.
In 1996 Ott was caught caring 3 ½ ounces of meth and sentenced
to life
in jail. This was his third
drug related offense and thanks to the
Oklahoma 3 strikes rule, he was sentenced to the minimumsentence, life without parole. His mother has always dreamed he would be released. She is so hopeful that every year for the 21 years he has been in lock up she has bought him a Christmas present. So if he comes home, he will have year of presents waiting for him.
In 1999, Jones was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute
crack cocaine. It was her first offense, but nonetheless she received life in
prison with no chance of parole. She left behind an 8-year-old daughter when
she was sentenced. That daughter would now be 26. So because of one minor non-violent offense,
she has missed her whole daughters childhood.
Parker is currently serving a 42-year sentence for selling
less than 3 grams of crack cocaine. Parker also suffers from a several mental
illness, which he self medicated with marijuana. In order to continue buying marijuana,
Parker began selling crack. He saw the drug as his only way to cope with his crippling
mental illness. Because of the possession of the two drugs he we sentenced to a
mandatory minimum sentence of 42 years instead of receiving the help he so
desperately needs.
Mixon was only 21 when she was sentenced to 15 years for distributing
meth. She had been addicted
to meth ever since she was 15, and was in the
process of getting her life together. She was recovering and had recently just
gotten a new job. But, because of
mandatory minimum sentencing she received 15 years, loosing some of the prime
years of her life, right at the beginning of her fresh start.
These is just a few of the many many thousands of cases in
which mandatory minimum sentencing has negatively impacted, and effectively
ruined, the lives of American all over the country. There are not many ways out
of these sentences either. In fact, if the laws stay as they are, the only way
out would be an official pardon of the governor the their respective states or
the president of the United States. While president Obama did recently hand out
many pardons to non-violent offenders serving mandatory minimum sentences,
there is still a lot of work to be done to free those unfairly serving.
What do you think about Mandatory Minimum sentences? Should they
be done away with? Are they every just?
Let me know!
