TheGoodGrower
Active Member
If I told you that in America almost 1million African Americans were forever forbidden from voting you might think I was talking about Jim Crow 50 years ago. But you would be wrong. According to the Sentencing Project, a staggering number of non-violent individuals who have been released from prison, not on probation nor parole, and who have committed no further crimes are forever prohibited from voting. Many African Americans are prevented from ever voting is because of the War on Drugs.
On Wednesday, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and described the injustice and effects of mandatory minimum sentences.
These sentences are disproportionally affecting minorities and low-income communities. A recent report from the ACLU reports that African Americans are 4-5 times more likely to be convicted for drugs possession. Some dismiss this because they believe African Americans are committing more drug crimes, but in June, the New York Times reported that although black Americans were four times more likely to be arrested as whites for marijuana possession, both groups used the drug at similar rates.
Why is this happening? Why are the arrest rates so lopsided? One widely cited study bySan Jose Mercury News reviewed 700,000 criminal cases that were matched by crime and criminal history of the defendant. The analysis revealed that similarly situated whites were far more successful than African Americans and Latinos in the plea bargaining process; in fact, at virtually every stage of pretrial negotiation, whites are more successful than non-whites.
Today, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world and the racial disparity in arrest rates has been absolutely devastating to the black community. Professor Michelle Alexander has even coined the War on Drugs the New Jim Crow.
But its not just African Americans-regardless of the color of your skin, the War on Drugs has ruined the lives of thousands of young people.
I know a guy about my age in Kentucky, who grew marijuana plants in his apartment closet in college. 30 years later, he still cant vote, cant own a gun, and when he looks for work he must check the box, the box that basically says: Im a convicted felon and I guess Ill always be one. Getting a job is nearly impossible for him.
John Horner was a 46-year-old father of three when he sold some of his prescription painkillers to a friend. His friend turned out to be a police informant, and he was charged with dealing drugs. Horner pleaded guilty, and was later sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in jail.
John will be 72 years-old by the time he is released, and his three young children will have grown up without him. The informant, who turned out to have a long history of drug offenses, was more fortunate- he received a reduced sentence of just 18 months after informing on Horner, and is now free.
So many judges oppose mandatory minimum sentencing precisely because such an arbitrary law does not take into account that each case is different.
I want to be clear: I am not advocating for any type of get-out-of-jail-free passes for individuals that break the law. I am simply arguing that the federal government should get out of the way, and allow local and state judges to do their jobs.
Mandatory minimum sentences automatically impose a minimum number of years in prison for specific crimes usually related to drugs. By design, mandatory sentencing laws take discretion away from prosecutors and judges so as to impose harsh sentences, regardless of circumstances.
Mandatory sentencing began in the 1970′s as a response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, and over the decades has put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars for drug possession, sale and other non-violent crimes.
Since mandatory sentencing began, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year.
Drug offenders in the United States spend more time under the criminal justice systems formal control than drug offenders anywhere else in the world. Statistics like these prove that mandatory minimum sentencing has failed our society.
Most public officials including liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have decided that mandatory minimum sentencing is unnecessary. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
About 1.3 million people, more than half the total prison population, are behind bars for non-violent crimes, and federal jails are 40 percent over capacity. Its a waste of tax dollars and human lives, said Anthony Papa of the Drug Policy Alliance.
This mass incarceration has hurt minority communities nationwide. Among African American children, one in nine has a parent in jail. Too many fathers are missing from too many lives and too many homes.
Ron Daniels, a lecturer at York College, City University of New York said: This ill-fated [War on Drugs] has disrupted families, decimated communities, and rendered Americas dark ghettos zones of desperation, desolation, and despair.
Hes right. Its time for these unjust laws to end.
On March 20th, I introduced the S. 619, the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 with the Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy. We have been joined by Sens. Carl Levin, Angus King and Kristen Gillibrand in the Senate and Rep. Bobby Scott, joined by 11 other members, introduced mirroring legislation in the House of Representatives.
The legislation is short and simple. It amends current law to provide authority to impose a sentence below a statutory mandatory minimum if certain requirements are met.
An end to mandatory sentences for non-violent crimes, and a return to letting judges use their discretion and judgment in sentences for minor drug crimes. States have reformed mandatory minimums and it is time for the federal government to follow. Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, New York and North Dakota have all reformed their sentencing laws. In individual states and across the country, the American people are ready to make sentencing reform a priority.
Mandatory minimum sentencing has done little to address the very real problem of drug abuse, while also doing great damage by destroying so many lives. Each case should be judged on its own merits, yet mandatory minimums prevent this from happening. The Justice Safety Valve Act will be an important step in improving justice in our nations court rooms.
Source: http://www.randpaulreview.com/2013/09/rand-paul-the-devastating-collateral-damage-of-an-insidious-drug-war-weapon/
On Wednesday, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and described the injustice and effects of mandatory minimum sentences.
These sentences are disproportionally affecting minorities and low-income communities. A recent report from the ACLU reports that African Americans are 4-5 times more likely to be convicted for drugs possession. Some dismiss this because they believe African Americans are committing more drug crimes, but in June, the New York Times reported that although black Americans were four times more likely to be arrested as whites for marijuana possession, both groups used the drug at similar rates.
Why is this happening? Why are the arrest rates so lopsided? One widely cited study bySan Jose Mercury News reviewed 700,000 criminal cases that were matched by crime and criminal history of the defendant. The analysis revealed that similarly situated whites were far more successful than African Americans and Latinos in the plea bargaining process; in fact, at virtually every stage of pretrial negotiation, whites are more successful than non-whites.
Today, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world and the racial disparity in arrest rates has been absolutely devastating to the black community. Professor Michelle Alexander has even coined the War on Drugs the New Jim Crow.
But its not just African Americans-regardless of the color of your skin, the War on Drugs has ruined the lives of thousands of young people.
I know a guy about my age in Kentucky, who grew marijuana plants in his apartment closet in college. 30 years later, he still cant vote, cant own a gun, and when he looks for work he must check the box, the box that basically says: Im a convicted felon and I guess Ill always be one. Getting a job is nearly impossible for him.
John Horner was a 46-year-old father of three when he sold some of his prescription painkillers to a friend. His friend turned out to be a police informant, and he was charged with dealing drugs. Horner pleaded guilty, and was later sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in jail.
John will be 72 years-old by the time he is released, and his three young children will have grown up without him. The informant, who turned out to have a long history of drug offenses, was more fortunate- he received a reduced sentence of just 18 months after informing on Horner, and is now free.
So many judges oppose mandatory minimum sentencing precisely because such an arbitrary law does not take into account that each case is different.
I want to be clear: I am not advocating for any type of get-out-of-jail-free passes for individuals that break the law. I am simply arguing that the federal government should get out of the way, and allow local and state judges to do their jobs.
Mandatory minimum sentences automatically impose a minimum number of years in prison for specific crimes usually related to drugs. By design, mandatory sentencing laws take discretion away from prosecutors and judges so as to impose harsh sentences, regardless of circumstances.
Mandatory sentencing began in the 1970′s as a response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, and over the decades has put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars for drug possession, sale and other non-violent crimes.
Since mandatory sentencing began, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year.
Drug offenders in the United States spend more time under the criminal justice systems formal control than drug offenders anywhere else in the world. Statistics like these prove that mandatory minimum sentencing has failed our society.
Most public officials including liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have decided that mandatory minimum sentencing is unnecessary. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
About 1.3 million people, more than half the total prison population, are behind bars for non-violent crimes, and federal jails are 40 percent over capacity. Its a waste of tax dollars and human lives, said Anthony Papa of the Drug Policy Alliance.
This mass incarceration has hurt minority communities nationwide. Among African American children, one in nine has a parent in jail. Too many fathers are missing from too many lives and too many homes.
Ron Daniels, a lecturer at York College, City University of New York said: This ill-fated [War on Drugs] has disrupted families, decimated communities, and rendered Americas dark ghettos zones of desperation, desolation, and despair.
Hes right. Its time for these unjust laws to end.
On March 20th, I introduced the S. 619, the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 with the Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy. We have been joined by Sens. Carl Levin, Angus King and Kristen Gillibrand in the Senate and Rep. Bobby Scott, joined by 11 other members, introduced mirroring legislation in the House of Representatives.
The legislation is short and simple. It amends current law to provide authority to impose a sentence below a statutory mandatory minimum if certain requirements are met.
An end to mandatory sentences for non-violent crimes, and a return to letting judges use their discretion and judgment in sentences for minor drug crimes. States have reformed mandatory minimums and it is time for the federal government to follow. Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, New York and North Dakota have all reformed their sentencing laws. In individual states and across the country, the American people are ready to make sentencing reform a priority.
Mandatory minimum sentencing has done little to address the very real problem of drug abuse, while also doing great damage by destroying so many lives. Each case should be judged on its own merits, yet mandatory minimums prevent this from happening. The Justice Safety Valve Act will be an important step in improving justice in our nations court rooms.
Source: http://www.randpaulreview.com/2013/09/rand-paul-the-devastating-collateral-damage-of-an-insidious-drug-war-weapon/
