Mandatory Minimums
Is Mandatory the New Black? As you sow, so shall you reap. Despite its Biblical lineage, this common saying within American pop culture is held true by citizens across all religions, sectors, and political parties. Essentially, every negative action should be met with negative consequences, every severe crime should be met with severe punishment, and so forth. This karma-like notion is sprinkled across legislation within all areas of modern society. However, the American people’s innate drive for “payback”, or antagonistic repercussions for all crimes committed, may have reached its breaking point. The implementation of mandatory minimums, or unalterable minimum sentences for specific offenses, has proven harmful to the United States’ economy
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This is concern is thoroughly outlined within a recent study performed by Rachael Young with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Young states that “when offenders ‘pay their debt to society’ by going to prison, society pays, too. North Carolina spends as much as $200,000 more on each criminal incarcerated as a habitual felon than if he or she had been sentenced according to the single offense. The average cost per inmate per day is about $65, or about $23,830 per inmate each year. North Carolina spent almost $789 million on its prison population, much more than the state's entire community college budget.” The reason for such extensive costs is due to the fact that, as previously stated, the nation is imprisoning low-level drug addicts instead of providing them with the rehabilitation required for curing addiction. This is proven by the fact that “a 1997 study found that treating heavy drug users was eight to nine time more cost-effective than long (six- to seven-year) mandatory sentences in reducing drug use, sales, and drug-related crimes, and estimated that treatment reduced drug-related crime as much as 15 times more than mandatory sentences,” (Young). Considering the fact that prison upkeep is payed for by innocent, everyday citizens- one might demand that the government opts for lower-cost plans for keeping drugs off American streets. In order to do so, the government should eradicate mandatory minimums and invest in cheaper, more effective preventative programs (such as rehabilitation) instead of spending more money on prison sentencing (which could otherwise be allocated to new community colleges, healthcare programs, essential highway infrastructure, and
This is concern is thoroughly outlined within a recent study performed by Rachael Young with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Young states that “when offenders ‘pay their debt to society’ by going to prison, society pays, too. North Carolina spends as much as $200,000 more on each criminal incarcerated as a habitual felon than if he or she had been sentenced according to the single offense. The average cost per inmate per day is about $65, or about $23,830 per inmate each year. North Carolina spent almost $789 million on its prison population, much more than the state's entire community college budget.” The reason for such extensive costs is due to the fact that, as previously stated, the nation is imprisoning low-level drug addicts instead of providing them with the rehabilitation required for curing addiction. This is proven by the fact that “a 1997 study found that treating heavy drug users was eight to nine time more cost-effective than long (six- to seven-year) mandatory sentences in reducing drug use, sales, and drug-related crimes, and estimated that treatment reduced drug-related crime as much as 15 times more than mandatory sentences,” (Young). Considering the fact that prison upkeep is payed for by innocent, everyday citizens- one might demand that the government opts for lower-cost plans for keeping drugs off American streets. In order to do so, the government should eradicate mandatory minimums and invest in cheaper, more effective preventative programs (such as rehabilitation) instead of spending more money on prison sentencing (which could otherwise be allocated to new community colleges, healthcare programs, essential highway infrastructure, and