Hatrack River Forum: Mandatory minimums

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Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040623/ap_on_re_us/crime_and_punishment

Aside from the recommendation to abolish mandatory minimums, the ABA also reported some other interesting information.

quote:
Based on current trends, a black male born in 2001 has a one in three chance of being imprisoned during his lifetime, compared with a one in six chance for a Latino male and one in 17 for a white male, the report noted.

1:3
1:6
1:17

Glad my kid is white.

I hate mandatory minimums. Of course, I also hate the maximums, too. I think they should be recommendations, or guidelines. That would only work if judges really weren't prejudicial, but there are some times that that the maximum is just not enough and other times when the minimum is too much. Discretion is good thing in the right hands. Unfortunately, I've yet to see "the right hands" nationwide.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Then you'd probably like the DC Sentencing Guidelines.

Go to page 59 for a summary. Basically, judges maintain discretion to depart either upward or downward, but most cases will be punished within the guidelines fairly consistently.

The problem is that maintaining discretion is exactly the feature that allows disparate sentencing - you can't have the first without the second.

Dagonee

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

Not really. They still have mandatory minimums. But I get your point. Don't most states have that?

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

They have some statutory mandatory minimums for some crimes. But in general, there are no mandatory minimums in the guidelines themselves, which is the big complaint with the US sentencing guidelines.

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

Yeah. Sometimes, it's good not to be a part of the US. Other times, I think DC would actually like to be a part of it. [Wink]

Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :

quote:
Glad my kid is white.

It is not exactly the color of the kid that matters...but the SES...but since more AA kids are in a lower SES than white kids, more AA kids end up in jail. Of course that can be some differences in envioronment btwn AA poor and white poor, but over all differences tend to level out when SES is controled for.

quote:
Unfortunately, I've yet to see "the right hands"

which is why there are mandatory minimums and maximums

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Yes. Having a lawyer spending 100 hours on your kid's possession case is a lot better than having a public defender take it. But race is still an issue, especially with respect to juries.

Dagonee

Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :

The problem is the judges who will illogically ignore guidelines therefore some type of minimum punishment is needed. Maybe it should be lighter than it currently is in some states but they should not be repealed altogether.