Mandatory Minimums

Sun Setting Mandatory Minimums

- Crime waves and specific crime problems give rise to mandatory minimums - Much of the damage of mandatory minimums comes form their persistence once the problem is gone

Expected Punishments Evidence

- Econometric tradition examines effects of enactment of mandatory minimum laws on crime rates - In general, changes in mandatory minimum laws are not related to declines in crime in these models of expected punishment

Assessment of Rockefeller Laws

- Fewer drug cases proceed to conviction - More of those convicted go to prison - Those who go to prison go for longer - No discernible effect on crime

Rockefeller Drug Laws (1973)

- New York State laws imposing a mandatory sentence of fifteen years to life for possession of four ounces of a narcotic - Targeting drug offenses and specifically heroin and requiring long sentences - Relatively minor drug crimes can bring a life sentence

Impact of Mandatory Minimums

- No discernible impact on crime - No evidence that intended changes in sentences did occur: - No increases in the application of severe penalties to a larger number of people - Increases in the application of more severe penalities to smaller number of people - Due in some measure to the avoidance of applying the mandatory measures

Mandatory Minimum Sentences

- Require that a custodial sentence be imposed and that sentence be of a certain length at minimum

Role of Expected Punishment

- What is perceived to be real is real in its consequences - Perceptions of increases in punishment can have a deterrent effect - Changes in the law per se can possibly affect offending behavior independent of its influence on actual punishments

Justification of Mandatory Minimums

Deterrence - Swift, certain, and severe - Mandatory imposition of custodial sentence - Mandatory imposition of severe sentence Incapacitation - Long custodial sentences remove offenders from society for long periods - Not clear that legislation identifies high volume offenders

Arguments Other than Effects on Sentencing

Public officials who enact mandatory sentencing laws may support them for symbolic and political reasons - Passage of the law can be considered a success in itself - An expression of outrage about a specific crime or behavior

Mandatory Minimums and Sentencing Guidelines

Sentencing guidelines seem to have been more successful in changing sentencing than mandatory minimums - They increased the certainty and severity of sentences - They decreased inter-judge disparity - They reduced inter-case disparity in some cases