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Essay On Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

493 Words2 Pages

Incarcerating a high percentage rate of individuals for drinking and drug convictions is counterproductive to the overcrowding judicial system. In other words, the system is failing, creating an overpopulation problem in the prisons. Immediately, sending someone to jail or prison for an alcohol or drug problem is not providing the necessary help. Instead, the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines are creating a repeat offender who will continue to clog up the system.

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

Starting from good intentions, the mandatory minimum sentencing sets specific guidelines in assigning terms for the specific types of convictions relating to drugs and alcohol. In theory, the criminal justice policies provide a good course of action …show more content…

A couple of drinks on the way home after a long hard day begin as a way to relax. Being a law abiding citizen, the individual has a good job, family, friends, a college degree and a solid plan for a financially secure future.

The casual drinking begins as a way to reduce stress and anxieties from the pressures daily living. Slowly the drinking trickles into weekends with old college friends, reliving past glory days. Unaware of the effects, the addiction of alcohol is slowly taking over the person’s life. Eventually, his actions get him into trouble with the law.

His story is not the first of good people falling into the trap of alcohol or drug addiction. Does follow the mandatory sentencing guidelines help these individuals with their addictions? The minimum mandatory sentencing guidelines do not provide the opportunity for plea bargaining or allow for the separation of the offense into different degrees of the crime. Age of the defendant, the first time being in trouble with the law, entering into rehabilitation or other surrounding circumstances cannot be part of the sentencing factors. The result is an increasing prison population creating higher costs without solving the underlying

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