Mandatory minimum sentences are sentencing limitations in the United States that are dictated by law (Trial.laws.com, 2013). Certain crimes have been deemed so important by the United States legislature that they carry with them a minimum sentence that cannot be reduced by a judge; this is vastly different than most crimes, as the judge is allowed to take into account the circumstances of the crime when dictating a sentence (Trial.laws.com, 2013). The most common types of crimes that have mandatory minimum sentences are drug laws, but they are by no means the only types of crimes with these types of sentencing structures (Trial.laws.com, 2013).
Mandatory minimum sentencing is a commonly-debated topic, and there are certainly positives to having a mandatory minimum sentence for a defendant. Judges can sometimes allow their personal opinions to get in the way of their sentencing decisions, and having mandatory minimum sentences ensure that defendants are punished for their crimes (Tierney, 2012). Similarly, these sentences may act as a deterrent for some. When the legislature feels that there are problems facing the country that could be considered extraordinarily detrimental, the legislature may enact mandatory minimum laws as a way to combat the problem at hand. This happened during the Reagan Era with the War on Drugs (Tierney, 2012).
However, by and large, mandatory minimum sentencing is a terrible burden on the prison system and the justice system as a whole. Because mandatory minimum laws often deal with drug use, possession, and intent to sell, the prison system is full of non-violent offenders whose only crime was possessing too much of a controlled substance (Tierney, 2012). Research suggests that the only foolproof way of turning a non-violent offender into a repeat, violent offender is to send them into the prison system; thus, the laws that were designed to curb drug violence are actually creating more drug violence (Tierney, 2012).
These laws allow for no leniency on the part of a judge; every individual charged under these laws serves a significant amount of time in the incredibly violent prison system (Trial.laws.com, 2013). In addition, ex-convicts often have a hard time finding work once out of prison, which can lead them very easily back to the lifestyle that put them in prison in the first place (“Unjust Mandatory Minimums,” 2013). While the reasoning behind this legislation is understandable, it has been made clear that mandatory minimums are more detrimental than helpful to society as a whole.
References
Tierney, J. (2012). For Lesser Crimes, Rethinking Life Behind Bars. The New York Times, December 8.
Trial.laws.com (2013). Mandatory Sentencing. [online] Retrieved from: http://trial.laws.com/sentence/types-of-sentences/mandatory-sentencing [Accessed: 14 Apr 2013].
Unknown. (2013). Unjust Mandatory Minimums. New York Times, February 8.
