Why Does It Important To Be Mandatory Minimum Sentence?

Mandatory minimum sentences are polices that require judges or juries to sentence convicted criminals to a minimum sentence irrespective of possible mitigating circumstances. Mandatory minimum sentences became increasingly popular as a result of the drug war, when both the federal government as well as states elected to enact mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders. California’s Three Strikes law was one of the most publicized of these laws. It required a mandatory 25-year to life sentence for individuals convicted of three felonies. Though the stated intent of the law was to remove violent offenders from the streets, the actual result was that many individuals with non-violent offences, including burglary, drug possession
There are a number of significant statistics regarding children with parents who are incarcerated. When children have parents who are incarcerated, they are much more likely to have a number of related problems. Although the research statistics do not demonstrate that children with parents who are incarcerated are more likely to end up incarcerated themselves, having an incarcerated parent is considered to be an adverse childhood experience. Adverse childhood experiences have been shown to have negative impacts on children in a variety of ways. For example, children with adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have substance abuse problems than children who do not have adverse childhood experiences. It is also clear, from other data that individuals who have substance abuse issues are more likely to be incarcerated than individuals who do not have similar substance abuse issues. Accordingly, when children have parents who are incarcerated, they are at greater risk for behaviors that lead to incarceration, if not incarceration itself (Sloan
When a community has a lot of individuals who are likely to be incarcerated because of mandatory minimum sentences (for example, communities that have a high amount of drug use) that means that the primary breadwinners of many households within the community are likely to leave. Accordingly, the entire community will see the effects of losing a number of primary breadwinners. The result is that the community itself ends up being more impoverished. Thus, even if the community may have had poverty in the beginning, removing a primary breadwinner not only makes it more likely that additional crime will come into the community, it also makes it more likely that the community will face more problems related to poverty (Allen 3). These may include high crime, substantial gang activity, decreased property values, lower quality schools, and many other factors that necessarily contribute to decreasing the overall status of the