Ganjika

Democrat introduces bill to End
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.

John Byrne
Published: Thursday March 19, 2009
from: The Raw Story | Democrat introduces bill to end mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses


A California Democrat has introduced a bill in Congress that would End the practice of judges being forced to impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

The Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 aims to repeal federal guidelines that force judges' hands in drug cases, and give power back to judges to determine sentences based on other elements of the case, not simply the weight of the drugs involved.

"This legislation will refocus federal prosecutorial resources on major drug traffickers and eliminate racial disparities created by the mandatory minimum sentences for power and crack cocaine," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who authored the bill (her floor statement is available here).

African Americans make up 12 percent of the US population and 14 percent of drug users, but account for 30 percent of the federal prison population for drug users, according to a statistic presented in the bill.

"In the 1980s, Congress passed two Anti-Drug Abuse Acts with the goal that federal prosecutors would go after major drug traffickers at the top of the food chain, instead of low-level drug offenders at the bottom," Waters continued. "Lengthy mandatory minimum sentences were passed for most drug crimes. These mandatory terms are based solely on the weight and the drug involved, and, with very few exceptions, the courts cannot sentence below them."

"Twenty years later," she added, "mandatory drug sentences have utterly failed to achieve Congress' goals."

TalkLeft, a progressive legal blog, praised the measure, and noted that it would also send small drug cases from federal to state courts.

The blog highlighted a number of findings presented in the legislation.

* Since the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau of Prisons budget increased from $220 million in 1986 to $5.4 billion in 2008.

* Low-level and mid-level drug offenders can be adequately prosecuted by the States and punished or supervised in treatment as appropriate.

* One consequence of the improper focus of Federal cocaine prosecutions has been that the overwhelming majority of low-level offenders subject to the heightened crack cocaine penalties are black and according to the Report to Congress only 8.8 percent of Federal crack cocaine convictions were imposed on whites, while 81.8 percent and 8.4 percent were imposed on blacks and Hispanics, respectively

* African Americans comprise 12 percent of the US population and 14 percent of drug users, but 30 percent of all Federal drug convictions.

* According to the Justice Department, the time spent in prison does not affect recidivism rates.

Waters' bill has 15 cosponsors, all of them Democrats. Few high-profile Democrats have signed on -- the sponsors do not include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) or House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI).

There is no companion bill presently active in the Senate. The bill would first have to go to the Judiciary Committee before being reviewed by the full House.

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__________________
Marijuana Is Only Addictive In The Sense
That All Good Things In Life Are Worth Repeating...

wake and bacon

YES!!! This is absolutely fantastic. More moves toward our ultimate goal... every step counts... keep otherwise peaceful citizens out of jail!

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SleepyJohn

We Must All be glad for California. If Only the rest of the States are so mindful,and aggressive. They know they're right, so they got more to talk about. Knowledge brings power, but too much knowledge doesn't make too much power, it just puts it in the right place.

LowRider

sleepy its a fedral law change. meaning all of the USA

marcusJay

For the most part, I'm against mandatory minimum sentences with the exception of child sex offenders as there have been some high profile cases lately that show the current sentencing procedures for child sex offenders doesn't work.
However, nonviolent drug crime sentencing should be under the control of the judge.

medivape

I am really loving all the exposure drugs and drug reform in particular are getting since Obama took office. In my opinion if this thing passes it would be a huge step in the right direction. With these mandatory minimum sentences violent criminals are doing less time than drug offenders. That's ridiculous and terribly unjust.

KillerWeed420

This would be great if it passed. I have always disagreed with the mandatory minimums. There are always extenuating circumstances in cases and it should be left up to the judge to decide if incarceration is best or another avenue is available.

KSYA713

~Hi Hippie, Shane here~

I've been seeing a quite bit of media hype over here in Australia, that is very positive towards medical marijuana. A CNBC report on California Marijuana Industry comes to mind. This is very good.

Judging by how much the media has huge influence over the minds of your every day sheeple, I think these things are very good, and could mean an end to this useless prohibition sooner then we all think. When the US does decide to pull the Oroborus head out of there asses and decriminalize this wonderful plant, then australia should follow suit, because as a large influence over the UN (the new roman empire) the US has allot of influence over the policies of other countries.

Thanks for posting Hippie, I'll try to be more active in these forums.