Summary Of The Sentencing Reform Act Of 1984

“The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” The article, “The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” (2015), written by Eric Girault, persuades the audience that the enactment of the law did not reduce crime in societies, but was misappropriated, which caused a negative impact on families and their communities. Girault describes this by sharing his personal anecdote on receiving a harsh prison sentence for a non-violent crime as a first time offender. He uses trustworthy resources in order to substantiate his claim. Girault’s intended audience for this piece of writing is the general public, specifically those that lack knowledge of the law and its due process.

According to Eric Girault in “The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984,” the enactment of this law was

He claims the prejudices of the judicial system handed out mandatory sentencing for those who used their constitutional right to have a trial by jury. The author builds a relationship with the audience by using Pathos in order to compel them to recognize the urgency to change the current law. Girault explains the failing logic of the law on page 225, he states that communities were to be made safer and instead of targeting petty crimes the focus would be to bring down kingpins, however after three decades of the SRA it still was a failure. Girault defines the sentencing reform act as discriminatory and states that minorities are hugely effected by this law and states ”Black people are overwhelming charged, convicted and sentenced at a higher rate to federal crimes since the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act.” (Girault 228). Finally, at the end of the article Girault exposes the ruling of the Booker vs. United States (2005) case by alluding the outcome of SRA was unconstitutional and was in conflict with its goal, however, the Supreme Court feared to many prisoner would be released. (Girault 230) After using personal anecdote of his own experience on receiving a stuff sentence as a first time offender and using credible sources, Eric Girault urges the reader to get on board with the only logical thing to do is to completely over turn the