Preview

Mandatory Minimum Sentences Pros And Cons

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1639 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mandatory Minimum Sentences Pros And Cons
Rough Draft
Fifty-five years without possibility of parole. That is what Weldon Angelos is facing for selling a total of $350 worth of marijuana, and carrying a firearm; even though, he has no criminal history and never fired the gun. This is all due to laws called mandatory minimum sentences (MMS); which are sentences that are determined by the weight of the drugs or the presence of a firearm during a felony offense. They are called mandatory because judges are forced to impose these sentences based solely on the amount of drug present without any leniency. The mandatory minimum prison sentences are a controversial way to fight the “War on Drugs” that have a conflicted history and have drastically increased prison populations and costs.
Mandatory minimum sentences have been called both America’s strongest tool and one of its greatest injustices, but here are the facts. Mandatory sentencing laws dictate that when a set amount of narcotics (for example one gram of LSD or 100 grams of heroin) is present the judge is required to sentence no lower than the set minimum (in this case it would be five years). This differs from other criminal cases in that …show more content…
Those in support of MMS state that they keep the justice system fair and safe from radical judges and juries who’s views on sentencing will vary greatly for each individual; therefore, actually preventing disparities. MMS are a powerful deterrent that prosecutors can use against the accused to get plea bargains and information on those higher in the drug organizations; however, those opposed say that MMS cases have no advantage when it comes to cooperation rates because most who are arrested are low level offenders who are not affiliated or know little about the organization (Mandatory Minimum sentencing 1). This means it is usually those who are higher up the chain- those who are doing the more serious crimes- that end up getting their sentences cut
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Essay On Mandatory Minimums
    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Essay On Mandatory Minimums

    As an American who is privileged enough to live in a wealthy community, attend a good school, and not have to worry about where my next meal will come from, many of my country’s most pressing issues aren’t problems I’m faced with on a daily basis. However, many Americans are uninformed and subsequently overlook one such issue, unaware of the harmful effect it has on their lives. The “it” in question is mandatory minimum sentencing policy. While most people assume these laws have no affect on anyone excluding the person being sentenced, in reality, the effects of mandatory minimums are far reaching. Aside from the prisoner and his/her family, the tax dollars or hard-working citizens are used to pay for the extended prison stays of thousands of fellow Americans. A whopping 67% of them are nonviolent drug offenders, according to a U.S. Sentencing Commission Report to Congress. It is imperative that the American government abolishes mandatory minimums because they have an…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

    The war on drugs did not officially take off until the 1980s with president Ronald Reagan. He coined the term “war on drugs”, created the Drug Enforcement Agency, and enacted a court procedure that the country is still feeling the effects of to this day: mandatory minimum sentencing. Mandatory minimum sentencing is a procedure in which a judge must sentence a citizen convicted to a minimum amount of years in prison for a crime regardless of circumstance. Because of this, the amount of prisoners in federal prison has skyrocketed from “only about 25,000” inmates in the 80s to “more than 215,000” as of 2014 (Miles). As a direct result of minimum sentencing, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, at least 50% of those incarcerated were convicted on non-violent drug charges. Of those 50%, 27% were convicted for possession of marijuana. This did not stop or discourage drug dealers. What this did was force prisons to begin placing “two or three bunks in a cell, and converting television rooms and open bays into sleeping quarters” (Miles). What this did was waste time and tax dollars to incarcerate non-violent marijuana dealers. What hat this did was send people like Weldon Angelos to jail on a 55 year sentence for just three marijuana sales. A twenty four year old Weldon was sentenced to jail in 2002 after being caught by an undercover cop. His three drug sales were tried as their own separate offences causing the 55 years in prison. Paul Cassell, the judge who made the decision admitted that “that wasn’t the right thing to do” (ABC). It costs roughly $31,000 to keep someone in jail for a year, so why are we spending so much of our money to keep those on marijuana charges locked up for a drug that’s only hard evidence against it is possible complications with short term memory? It is not worth the money to keep these people in prison. If legalization were to happen at the federal level we…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What Are The Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Arrest
    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page

    What Are The Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Arrest

    Mandatory arrest for domestic violence calls is to ensure the safety of the victim from the alleged offender. I think this policy impacts the community significantly depending on the situation and the severity of the allegations. The pros of arrest for domestic violence calls ensure safety for the victim, family members and the community. The cons wit this issue is often times there are false allegations made and lack of sufficient evidence but because of policy a person must be placed under arrest. This can negatively impact a person’s life in many ways. They can lose their jobs and not get jobs because of their offenses. I would be against this policy because there isn’t always sufficient evidence leading one person to being the main aggressor…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pros and Cons of Sentencing Guidelines and Mandatory Minimum Sentences
    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pros and Cons of Sentencing Guidelines and Mandatory Minimum Sentences

    Mandatory minimum sentences are another method that was designed to limit judicial discretion while maintaining a “get tough on crime” approach. Mandatory sentences are sentences where all people convicted of certain crimes will be punished equally with a set minimum prison term. I believe the intentions were good when these reforms went into place. I think the intended purpose was to get tough on crime, eliminate bias on the part of the judge, to make criminals think twice about breaking the law, and provide equal punishment to all criminals who commit the same crimes. Unfortunately these sentence guidelines do not allow a judge to take into consideration the first time offender, differentiate the deviance level of the offender, and it does not allow for the judge to tailor a punishment to each individual case. The “drug war” they were trying to control with these sentences has had a backfire effect. The drug lords they were trying to stop are not the ones being affected by the sentences; it is the nonviolent, low-level drug users who are overcrowding the prisons as a result of these sentences.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Minimums
    • 224 Words
    • 1 Page

    Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Minimums

    The biggest complaint about mandatory minimum sentences is that they are unfair. A judge does not have the authority to tailor the sentence to the specific facts. Therefore, someone who was an unimportant part of a drug conspiracy might be stuck with the same minimum sentence as someone who was the ringleader behind the crime. Mandatory sentencing laws also do not allow plea bargains, so even if the prosecutor…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Prison Term Policy Research Paper
    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Prison Term Policy Research Paper

    Judges have lost the ability to tailor the sentence to fit the circumstances of each individual case. One size does not fit all. The Guidelines are one cause of the dramatic growth in the federal justice system. A system intended to streamline and simplify the sentencing process has instead created a far more complex system that has clogged the courts with appeals over Guidelines' applications. Furthermore, the federal Guidelines are not simply guidelines, as the name suggests: they are mandatory. Judges are required to follow them, no matter how inappropriate the result (Anderson,…

    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
    • 1908 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

    I do not believe that the ends justify the means when it comes to mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses. The reason for enacting these laws was to try and deter crime, but research has shown that harsher punishments does not lead to a decrease in crime rates. Incarcerating people for drug offenses is not an effective way to combat drug crimes. The space in prisons, and funds used to fight drug crimes should both be focused more on violent…

    • 1908 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Death Penalty Pros And Cons
    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page

    Death Penalty Pros And Cons

    Some pros to the death penalty are that it protects innocent people and that the death penalty serves as a deterrent. Sentencing convicted murderers with the death penalty we are protecting inmates, guards, and people outside the prison. If we do not sentence convicted murderers with the death penalty and instead sentence them with life we are giving them the opportunity to murder while in prison. A statistic shows that by executing convicted murderers we are saving from three to eighteen innocent lives. The death penalty serves as a deterrent because without the death penalty there would be a lot more murderers. This is so because a lot of people do not commit murder in fear of the death penalty and those who have committed murder would…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Arguments Against Mandatory Sentencing
    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Arguments Against Mandatory Sentencing

    There are many different argument both for and against mandatory minimum drug sentencing. However there are more arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing then there are for the support of the mandatory sentencing. One of the biggest arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing is that it was originally intended to target the higher level drug dealers but the majority of the cases have only been low level drug dealers. One of the other arguments is that will cause the jail systems to become overcrowded and that if is unfair.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Against Mandatory Minimums
    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Against Mandatory Minimums

    This movie brought about a sobering reality of both families who have been affected by drugs, and the offenders behind bars for drug offenses. Yet I was somewhat disturbed by the small-town marshal in Magdalena New Mexico, Larry Curly who seemed to have a troublesome viewpoint towards police profiling. He called it “fishing” and blatantly admitted he was illegally profiling possible suspects who may be involved in drug trafficking. He denoted that all cops are phony and that they certainly profile individuals by their car and physicality. Yet he also stated that he tries to portray himself as a hero with “his white and and piece of silver.” I feel like this cop is a disgrace to the Criminal Justice system, for he contradicts himself. Yet it's important to mention he had one thing right by admitting how in-genuine him and other officers…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Incarceration
    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Pros And Cons Of Incarceration

    Since 2002, the United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. Although prison populations are increasing in some parts of the world, the natural rate of incarceration for countries comparable to the United States tends to stay around 100 prisoners per 100,000 population. The U.S. rate is 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents, or about 1.6 million prisoners in 2010, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Prison is a place used for internment of convicted criminals. Not including the death penalty, a sentence to prison is the harshest punishment inflicted on criminals in the United States. On the federal level, imprisonment or incarceration is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a federal…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Enforcing The Death Penalty
    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Enforcing The Death Penalty

    Murder is defined as the killing of one human being by another. Murderers should receive the death penalty, unless self-defense was a following factor. The killing of an innocent human being should never be something someone gets away with; no one should have to right to live after taking the life of another. However, the death penalty is known to be a “lethal lottery” and is applied at random. Therefore, I believe separate institutions should be constructed throughout the United States to separate average criminals from murderers.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Drug Court Case Study
    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Drug Court Case Study

    In 1989 the first drug court was introduced in Miami Dade County, Florida. Drug problems in Florida were substantial and mirrored many states across the United States. Crack Cocaine was on the rise as so was the crime across the United States. The many types of drug courts have been put in place to decrease recidivism, drug use and restore lives and families. Drug Courts are designed to serve as the alternative for incarceration. A big factor in criminal justice is figuring out what programs work for the community which are the taxpayers, and the offenders we are serving and helping. Drug courts are very successful out of the many correctional programs that exist. First discussing the background model that a comprehensive range of drug courts…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Drug Court vs. Incarceration
    • 2165 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Drug Court vs. Incarceration

    In 1989, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade County in Florida was the first in the nation to implement Drug Court, a diversion and treatment program for drug offenders which is overseen by the Court. “The Miami-Dade Drug Court sparked a national revolution that has forever changed our justice system. Ten years after the first Drug Court was founded, 492 Drug Courts existed. By December 31, 2010 2,633 Drug Courts were operating in every U.S. state and territory” (National Association of Drug Court Professionals, para 3). Drug Court has allowed participants an opportunity to become productive members of their communities. Although not all people agree that drug court is an effective countermeasure for incarceration, drug court offers more treatment options for a criminal offender, reducing the recidivism rates and saving taxpayers money.…

    • 2165 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Essay
    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Essay

    Many people are victims of a crime, or they’re the ones committing the crime. Some of these crimes that have been committed are sentenced as Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. Mandatory Minimum sentencing is when a person convicts a crime, and must be in prison for a minimum term, the days of punishment is up to the judges to decide. In this occasion the kind of crime that they commit depends on the amount of time the assailant will serve. What does the world have to offer of this law.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics