Mandatory Sentencing For Minor Drug Offences - 957 Words

Since 1971, the United States has been on a war against drugs. Yet four decades and one trillion dollars later, we are still fighting this war (Branson). All that we have to show for this war is drugs running rampant and tons of citizens incarcerated. Mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences should be overturned due to overflowing prisons, damaging families, and the scare tactic it was created to be has failed. Due to mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences, the American prison system is overflowing with inmates. According to E. Ann Carson, a Statistician for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, â€Å"Fifty percent (95,800) of sentenced inmates in federal prison on September 30, 2014 (the most recent date for which federal offense data are available) were serving time for drug offenses. In comparison to the 53% in state prisons, violent offenders represented 7% of the federal prison population (14,000 prisoners)† (Carson 17). Half of the United States’ prison pop ulation in both state and federal is incarcerated for drug related crimes. This is huge compared to the seven percent of the population in federal prisons for violent crimes. The United States Federal Registrar says â€Å"The average annual cost to confine an inmate in a Community Corrections Center for Fiscal Year 2011 was $26,163† (Prisons Bureau). This cost falls to the tax payers. It would cost taxpayers over two and a half billion dollars to house all the people guilty of minor drug offences in federal prisonShow MoreRelatedAgainst Mandatory Sentencing Debate970 Words   |  4 PagesA mandatory sentence is one where judicial discretion is limited by law; those convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison. The most famous example of mandatory sentencing is the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy adopted first in California in 1994, and now more widespread in the USA. Three strikes laws require life imprisonment for a third criminal conviction, but other forms of mandatory sentencing are now being discussed and implementedRead MoreThe Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing978 Words   |  4 Pagesmethod of sentencing criminals was the establishment of the mandatory minimum sentencing. During the early days of the republic, specific sentences were carried out for certain crime and early mandatory sentences the forms of punishment used at the time stretched from ducking stools/cucking stools for disorderly women and dishonest tradesmen in England, Soctland to hanging for convicted murderers. However, in recent years, evidence gathered have shown that the federal mandatory minimum sentencing wereRead MoreDo Queensland s Sentencing Laws Focus Too Heavily On Punishment948 Words   |  4 PagesQueensland’s sentencing laws focus too heavily on punishment, rather than rehabilitation, of drug offenders? Queensland’s current drug sentencing laws primarily focus on punishment more than rehabilitation. Courts in Queensland have penalties that can be enforced on an offender such as Community Service Order, Fines Restitution, Probation, Intensive Correction Order, Imprisonment and Parole for the use of illegal drugs. The penalties vary according to the type and amount of drug use involved. Drug traffickingRead MoreDiscuss Factors That Affect Sentencing Decisions, Including the Purposes of Punishment and the Role of Victims.783 Words   |  4 Pagessentence must coincide with the statutory guidelines e.g that set out in the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), and the judicial guidelines that set precedent for all judges and magistrates in the state. Within this legislation are the purposes for which a sentence may be imposed, types of penalties, minimum/maximum sentences and mandatory sentences. The purposes of sentencing are set out in the Crimes (Sentencing Procedures) Act 1999 (NSW) and fundamentally include deterrence, retributionRead MoreThe War On Drugs And The United States1506 Words   |  7 Pages When, in 1971, Richard Nixon infamously declared a â€Å"war on drugs† it would have been nearly impossible for him to predict the collective sense of disapprobation which would come to accompany the now ubiquitous term. It would have been difficult for him to predict that the drug war would become a hot topic, a highly contentious and polarizing point of debate and, it would have difficult for him to predict that the United States would eventually become the prison capital of the world, incarceratingRead MoreMandatory Sentencing Laws For Repeat Offenders897 Words   |  4 PagesIn the 1990s, states began to execute mandatory sentencing laws for repeat offenders. This statute became known as â€Å"three strike laws†. The three strikes law increases prison sentence for people convicted of a felony. If you have two or more violent crimes or serious felonies, it limits the ability that offenders have to receive a punishment other than life sentencing. By 2003 over half of the states and federal government had enacted the â€Å"three strike laws†. The expectation behind it was to getRead MorePrison Blues : How America s Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety1033 Words   |  5 Pagesof minimum sentencing during an often cited speech. As stated in his book Prison blues: How America s Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety, David Kopek credits Rehnquist with stating: These mandatory minimum sentences are perhaps a good example of the law of unintended consequences. There is a respectable body of opinion which believes that these mandatory minimums impose unduly harsh punishment for first-time offenders -- particularly for mules who played only a minor role in aRead MoreMandatory Minimums Should Not Be Mandatory911 Words   |  4 PagesThose who oppose mandatory minimums argue that longer sentences cost too much, are ineffective in reducing drug related crimes, and do not allow for lenience in extenuating circumstances. The average cost of keeping a single prisoner incarcerated in federal prison for a year is approximately $30,619.85 (Prisons Bureau, and Department of Justice), multiply that number by the typical five years in prison mandatory minimum policy demands for minor drug crimes as well as multiplying it by the approximateRead MoreRacism And The American Criminal Justice System1584 Words   |  7 Pagesphenomenon rather than a flaw in the justice system. However, there is overwhelming evidence of a racial bias in the justice system. The infamous â€Å"War on Drugs† compounded the effects of this racial bias by instituting mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offences. These sentences push what were formerly minor offences into the felony offence category. The legal system creates no less than three different patterns of inequality for convicted felons, of which a staggering number constitute racialRead MoreThe Caging Of America By Adam Gopnik911 Words   |  4 Pagesinapp ropriate sentencings to those with minor crimes. He demonstrates that inmates are getting treated poorly than helping them learn from their actions. Using facts and statistics, Gopnik makes his audience realize that there is an urgent need of change in the American prison system. The main idea of Gopnik’s article is that the prison system needs to improve its sentencing laws because prisons are getting over crowed. Gopnik’s argument is valid because there is a problem in the sentencing laws that