Legal Commentary

DOJ Weighs in On Mandatory Minimum Sentences

By Jeralyn

The U.S. Sentencing Commission held a hearing yesterday on mandatory minimum sentences. Here is the prepared testimony outlining the position of the Department of Justice which has implemented a task force to study the laws.

Bottom line: DOJ is willing to make some adjustments, mostly minor:

Our study has led us to the conclusion that in an era of advisory guidelines, mandatory minimum sentencing statutes remain important to promote the goals of sentencing and public safety. At the same time, we recognize that some reforms of existing mandatory minimum sentencing statutes are needed and that consideration of some new modest mandatory minimum sentencing statutes is appropriate.

[More...]

....acknowledging our current advisory guidelines system and recognizing that mandatory minimum penalties provide critical tools for combating serious crimes, we support mandatory minimum sentencing statutes now for serious crimes.

...we believe that mandatory minimum sentencing statutes must go hand in hand with advisory sentencing guidelines

...Thus, reforms of some of the current mandatory minimums are needed to eliminate excess severity in current statutory sentencing laws and to help address the unsustainable growth in the federal prison population.

The better news is at the end:

We believe that no new mandatory minimum should be proposed unless there is substantial evidence that such a minimum would rectify a genuine problem with imposition of sentences below the advisory guidelines; would not have an unwarranted adverse impact on any racial or ethnic group; and would not substantially exacerbate prison crowding.

The American Civil Liberties Union’s Jay Rorty testified that the mandatory minimums “create excessive prosecutorial discretion, which is exercised in an arbitrary manner and used to coerce defendants into relinquishing their constitutional rights and punish defendants when they exercise those rights.” He acknowledged that Congress is unlikely to taking action to change mandatory minimums.

“Although we believe the correct policy choice is clear, we understand that good policy and good politics do not always align, and that Congress may not yet be prepared to abolish all federal mandatory minimums,” Rorty said.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 28, 2010 (boomark / email).