mandatory minimum sentencing

(These are some main points from a social work policy paper that I co-wrote last year)

FEDERAL DRUG SENTENCING: mandatory minimums

• The enactment of this law was fueled by politics before an election.Tip O’Neill, House Speaker in 1986, was from Boston where Boston Celtic’s Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose. He promoted the Democratic party right before elections with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act.“No hearings were held…No experts…no judges, no one from the Bureau of Prisons, or from any office in the government, provided advise on the idea before it was rushed through the committee and into law…passed a few weeks before the November elections.” Eric Sterling, Esq. for PBS

• This law was not intended to drive up incarceration rates, but it has.“This legislation is not intended as a means of filling our jails with drug users. What we must do as a society is identify those who use drugs, reach out to them, help them quit, and give them the support they need to live right.” President Reagan, 1986
  
• “More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report released yesterday. With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second…” Washington Post 2/29/08
  Federal drug sentencing power was taken out of the hands of judges and given to prosecutors. Judges are bound to use the federal sentencing grid. Prosecutors have choice in what evidence they bring against the defendant.
  
• The federal drug sentencing grid is too harsh.“Mandatory minimums are harsh and in many cases unjust. If the hypothetical example of an 18-year-old gets caught growing marijuana in the woods and happens to have a hunting rifle in his truck when arrested, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. Now he shouldn’t be doing that, (but) an 18-yearold doesn’t know how long 15 years is.” Anthony Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court justice, in Congressional testimony, 2003
• 
  Illegal drugs should be viewed in the same light as alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, and addictive prescription drugs. Some illegal drugs, such as marijuana, are less harmful to the body than alcohol, cigarettes, or pain killers.
  
• Drug use is not a moral issue.
  
• People should have freedom over their own bodies.
• Personal drug use affects children and communities, but so does incarceration! Which is worse: A child growing up without a parent, or a child growing up with a drug user?
• Drug addiction should be a medical issue, not a legal issue.
  
• There are many treatment options that are more effective in deterring drug use than incarceration. Incarceration does not significantly prevent or deter drug use. Drug treatment programs and diversion are effective and more cost-efficient. (O’Callaghan, Sonderegger, & Klag, 2004)
  
• MANY PEOPLE LIKE DRUGS! We don’t have enough prison space for all of them!“In 2006, almost 40% of young people age 18–20, about one-third of 21–25 year-olds, and one-quarter of 26–29 year-olds reported using an illicit drug in the past year.” Center for Disease Control Study
  
• “112 million Americans age 12 or older (45% of the population) reported illicit drug use at least once in their lifetime.” Bureau of Justice: 2006