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Crime rates are at historic lows yet our prisons are over capacity. What gives?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/opinion/needed-a-new-safety-valve.html?ref=opinion&_r=1&Needed: A New Safety Valve
Congress’s new bipartisan task force on overcriminalization in the justice system held its first hearing earlier this month. It was a timely meeting: national crime rates are at historic lows, yet the federal prison system is operating at close to 40 percent over capacity.
Representative Karen Bass, a California Democrat, asked a panel of experts about the problem of mandatory minimum sentences, which contribute to prison overcrowding and rising costs. In the 16-year period through fiscal 2011, the annual number of federal inmates increased from 37,091 to 76,216, with mandatory minimum sentences a driving factor. Almost half of them are in for drugs.
The problem starts with federal drug laws that focus heavily on the type and quantity of drugs involved in a crime rather than the role the defendant played. Federal prosecutors then seek mandatory sentences against defendants who are not leaders and managers of drug enterprises. The result is that 93 percent of those convicted of drug trafficking are low-level offenders.
...
The case of Weldon Angelos has long stood for the injustice of mandatory minimums. Mr. Angelos received a 55-year prison sentence in 2004 for selling a few pounds of marijuana while having handguns in his possession, which he did not use or display. In an extraordinary opinion, the federal trial judge said he had no choice but to impose that “cruel, unjust, and irrational” sentence. The Justice Safety Valve Act would give courts more leeway to avoid that one-size-fits-all approach.
Representative Karen Bass, a California Democrat, asked a panel of experts about the problem of mandatory minimum sentences, which contribute to prison overcrowding and rising costs. In the 16-year period through fiscal 2011, the annual number of federal inmates increased from 37,091 to 76,216, with mandatory minimum sentences a driving factor. Almost half of them are in for drugs.
The problem starts with federal drug laws that focus heavily on the type and quantity of drugs involved in a crime rather than the role the defendant played. Federal prosecutors then seek mandatory sentences against defendants who are not leaders and managers of drug enterprises. The result is that 93 percent of those convicted of drug trafficking are low-level offenders.
...
The case of Weldon Angelos has long stood for the injustice of mandatory minimums. Mr. Angelos received a 55-year prison sentence in 2004 for selling a few pounds of marijuana while having handguns in his possession, which he did not use or display. In an extraordinary opinion, the federal trial judge said he had no choice but to impose that “cruel, unjust, and irrational” sentence. The Justice Safety Valve Act would give courts more leeway to avoid that one-size-fits-all approach.
Not mentioned in the article: the escalation of incarcerations coinciding with the expansion of private prisons, and the total failure of the war on drugs to reduce drug use despite steeply escalating costs.
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