Ethnic Bias And Mandatory Minimums Essay Research

Ethnic Bias And Mandatory Minimums Essay, Research Paper

In recent years, drug policy has been dramatically impacted by an upsurge in popularity for Mandatory Minimum policies, especially in terms of sentencing for drug offenses. This policy has become a hotly debated topic, with its implications reaching beyond those that affect just the drug dealers and users. As a result, a new debate has begun, specifically whether mandatory minimum sentences have a racial or ethnic bias. I plan to focus my paper on whether it can be determined that mandatory minimum sentences have a racial or ethnic bias in terms of their use as a social policy, specifically with attention to cocaine/crack offenses. Are disproportionate amounts of African-Americans affected by this kind of legislation. Before I can discuss what this debate is, it is important to understand what mandatory minimums are, and whom they affect.

Mandatory minimum legislation comes in response to the American public’s desire to crack down on those who sell and use drugs. Their popularity has been codified by biased media reports showing an unfair, stereotyped profile of drug users in American, usually a picture of a poor, underprivileged, dangerous and violent black inner-city dweller. In the 1980s, the Congress and many state legislators decided that the sentencing system was out of date and in need of serious change. The system lacked the validity needed to stimulate public confidence and operate as a serious deterrent to commit crimes. The Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 1984 created a Sentencing Commission to determine guidelines for sentencing. The purposes of sentencing as they determined were:

+ “To reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law and to provide just punishment,

+ To afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct,

+ To protect the public from further crimes of the defendant

+ To provide the defendant with educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment.

Since these guidelines were issued in 1984, Congress and state legislatures have passed mandatory sentencing legislation aimed specifically at drugs and violent crimes. This kind of legislation can be seen as the judicial arm of the United States “War on Drugs.” Mandatory minimums require that judges hand down a predetermined sentence for possession or sale of drugs, provided that the offender meets certain criteria. “For example, federal law requires that a person convicted of possessing half a kilo or more of cocaine be sentenced to at least 5 years in prison” The criteria that cocaine offenses are judged by to determine mandatory sentencing are as follows:

+ “The weight of the mixture containing a detectable amount of the controlled substance,

+ Whether the detected substance is powder or crack cocaine,

+ The number of prior federal/state drug felony convictions,

+ Whether it is a matter of simple possession or possession with intent to manufacture, distribute or dispense.”

Criteria and guidelines for mandatory sentencing for other varieties of drug offenses follow along similar lines as the guidelines for cocaine offenses.

Mandatory minimums have been popular with political figures who want to appear “tough on drugs,” with bipartisan support in many cases. For these proponents of such legislation and policies, the certitude and harshness of mandatory minimums make these sentences a strong deterrent for possession or sale of drugs. These programs also work to achieve goals of incarceration, including punishment of the convicted, keeping released convicts from committing more crimes, as well as the deterrence factor for those not in prison. The general American populace does not view prisons as “correctional institutions”, whose goal is to rehabilitate inmates. Instead, they view prisons as a place to punish those who have committed a crime, to keep these offenders isolated from society and discourage others from following this life of crime. Mandatory minimums are seen as a way to equalize the sentences given to those guilty of sale or possession of illegal drugs, to reduce trial costs, and to be “tough on drugs.” However, one must asks whether these policies are really doing what the judicial system is intended to do, “let the punishment fit the crime.”

Many groups and individuals oppose the use of mandatory minimum sentencing. They base their arguments on many different aspects of these policies. One argument that they advocate is the idea that mandatory minimums remove decision making power from the hands of the judge, limiting his/her ability to weigh each case on its individual merits. They also contest that mandatory minimums have placed many normal, law-abiding citizens into the prison system unjustly, with monumental consequences for their friends and family, simply for “getting mixed up with the wrong crowd.” They contend that mandatory minimums do not equalize sentencing decisions, because drug traffickers and minor offenders are often grouped together under these arbitrary laws. Often times, the “kingpins” are ignored so that an example could be made of a lesser offender. They argue that mandatory minimums are an unjust way to handle the drug problems that our country faces. They also argue that the sentencing differences placed upon powdered an crack cocaine have an i