Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

There are approximately 210,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons, a huge increase from 1980, when there were 24,000 people serving time. This increase is attributed to the War on Drugs and their mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. Paul Cassell, a retired judge from Utah speaks about how unjust these guidelines are.

While talking to ABC News, Cassell talked about a young man who was being charged with a drug offense, “The system forced me to do it. If he had been an aircraft hijacker, he would have gotten 24 years in prison. If he’d been a terrorist, he would have gotten 20 years in prison. If he was a child rapist, he would have gotten 11 years in prison. And now I’m supposed to give him a 55-year sentence? I mean, that’s just not right,” he told ABC News.

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