Sentencing Guidelines For Non Violent Drug Offenders

The United States’ prison population is currently number one in the world. As a nation that proclaims freedom for citizens, the United States houses more than one million more persons than Russian and almost one million more persons than China. Currently, the United States makes up five percent of the world’s population and imprisons twenty-five percent of the world’s inmate population. Drug offenders who committed no act of violence make up a large portion of the inmates in the United States. County, State, and Federal prisons are so over populated that the private sector has opened up corporate facilities to house convicted persons. The cost each year to hold a person rises, placing larger financial demands on the judicial system. The Judicial System of the United States should reevaluate the sentencing guidelines for non-violent drug offenders to alleviate the high number of people in the prison system. Inconsistent punishment currently issued by judges creates an increase in persons sentenced to prison. There is a moral dilemma by incarcerating a person for a non-violent crime based on the type of drug. Crack cocaine holds a much tougher sentencing guideline than powder cocaine. According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, prior to the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act, it took one hundred times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine to receive the same five, ten, or twenty year mandatory minimum prison sentence. After the Fair Sentencing Act, the ratio isShow MoreRelatedThe Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws1613 Words   |  7 PagesCurrent mandatory minimum sentencing laws are in dire need of reform. A mandatory minimum sentence is a court decision where judicial discretion is limited by law. As a result, there are irrevocable prison terms of a specific length for people convicted of particular federal and state crimes. As of January 2014, more than 50 percent of inmates in federal prisons are serving time for drug offenses, and more than 60 percent of people incarcerated are racial and ethnic minorities. The use of safetyRead MoreRape And Burglary As A Post Incarceration Supervision1730 Words   |  7 PagesMandatory minimums take away the discretion of the judge in sentencing. These officials are bound by statute to place offenders behind bars. Because these statutes are put into place, the judge is not allowed to hand down alternative punishments, nor do they give them the opportunity to prescribe treatment or a change to rehabilitate. Such laws also hold racial discriminatory factors (USSC, 2011). Determinate sentences are those in which the offender is given a fixed term that might be reduced based onRead MoreShould We Be Mandatory Sentence Reduction?870 Words   |  4 Pagesshifting the focus or scale of the tough on crime indicator when it comes to drugs. We have criminalized Americans for possessing drugs in the war and drugs while in the more egalitarian Europe society simple possession is not even a crime. This translates to America in terms of a potential reduction in sentence, tests, processing, and incarceration costs for all those people arrested and convicted in the war on drugs and which has acted in practice to disproportionately penalize African-AmericansRead MoreMandatory Minimums712 Words   |  3 Pages18 to distribute drugs, and the adult sale of controlled substances to someone under the age of 21. It also restricts prosecutorial ability to prosecute low-level drug offenses in instances of small drug quantities by requiring the prosecutor to acquire the a pproval of the Attorney General prior to pursuing the case further. The goal of this legislation is to restore judicial discretion in sentencing. Summary: This bill would reduce sentences for specific low-level, non-violent offenses to a yearRead MoreThe Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws1688 Words   |  7 Pagescriticized for its many problems and errors; one in particular that caught my attention was the mandatory minimum sentencing laws. These laws basically set minimum sentences for certain crimes that judges cannot lower, even for extenuating circumstances. The most common of these laws deal with drug offenses and set mandatory minimum sentences for possession of a drug over a certain amount. Sentencing procedures can vary from jurisdiction to Jurisdiction. Most of these laws are ineffective and causes unnecessaryRead MoreThe War On Drugs And Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws1468 Words   |  6 PagesOrder Why are so many violent criminals walking free while so many non-violent offenders are locked up? Although various aspects have fueled this inequity of justice, the factors that have contributed the most to this development are, undoubtedly, the War on Drugs and mandatory minimum sentencing laws which have led to punishment disproportionate to the offense. 59% of rape cases and 36.2% of murder cases in the United States are never solved. In 2011, less than half of all violent crimes committed foundRead MoreMandatory Minimums And The United States Justice System1007 Words   |  5 Pagesconstitutionality of the federal sentencing guidelines used for nearly two decades† (Kenneth Jost, 2004), despite this, nothing has been done to correct it. And while the idea of mandatory minimums is a good thing, they don’t work in the American justice system or in current American society. Mandatory minimum sentencing is the minimum time for certain crimes, usually drug related crimes. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, there were no mandatory minimums with sentencing (Evan Bernick and Paul LarkinRead MoreMale And Female Sentencing : A Look Into Alternative Sentencing1274 Words   |  6 PagesFemale V Male Sentencing A Look into Alternative Sentencing Ritchey, Christian American Military University Author Note This paper was prepared for CRMJ201. Abstract With incarceration rates rising and jail and prison populations at an all-time high, alternative sentencing is being used more often with non-violent offenders. This paper looks at male and female incarceration rates, the use of alternative programs for sentencing between the two and the effectiveness of such programs. During the paperRead MoreMandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines For The United States853 Words   |  4 Pagesbelieve one of the main reasons prisons are overcrowded is due to mandatory minimum sentencing. The U.S has very strict sentencing guidelines when it comes to sentencing. According to Hooker and Hirsh, â€Å"A felony conviction generally, by law, means a term of mandatory incarceration. An accused faces mandatory sentencing if he/she has any past felony conviction, or if he/she is accused of being a repetitive offender. As to the former, any past conviction counts, no matter how old† (Berlatsky 94-95)Read Moremandatory minimum sentence1364 Words   |à ‚  6 Pagesmay object to the sentence†. These mandatory sentencing laws however vary from state to state, and in other countries. In 1994 California introduced a policy called â€Å"3 strikes you’re out†, which meant after a third criminal conviction the arrested person would be sentenced to life in prison (Friedman 109). Soon after California enacted its policy, other states and countries also adopted similar policies. Since then other forms of mandatory sentencing have been established for example, in Britain