Ethnic Bias and Mandatory Minimums
In recent years, drug policy has been dramatically impacted by an upsurge in popularity for Mandatory Minimum policies, especially in terms of sentencing for drug offenses. This policy has become a hotly debated topic, with its implications reaching beyond those that affect just the drug dealers and users. As a result, a new debate has begun, specifically whether mandatory minimum sentences have a racial or ethnic bias. I plan to focus my paper on whether it can be determined that mandatory minimum sentences have a racial or ethnic bias in terms of their use as a social policy, specifically with attention to cocaine/crack offenses. Are disproportionate amounts of African-Americans affected by this kind of legislation? Before I can discuss what this debate is, it is important to understand what mandatory minimums are, and whom they affect. Mandatory minimum legislation comes in response to the American public's desire to crack down on those who sell and use drugs. Their popularity has been codified by biased media reports showing an unfair, stereotyped profile of drug users in American, usually a picture of a poor, underprivileged, dangerous and violent black inner-city dweller. In the 1980s, the Congress and many state
The Federal Government is not the only organization to conduct research into the effect of Mandatory Minimum sentencing guidelines in terms of crack and cocaine offenses on the American public. The RAND organization, an independent, nonprofit research group that analyzes public policy, conducted a 1997 study into the cost-effectiveness of Mandatory Minimum Drug sentences. While this report did not necessarily focus on the implications of these sentencing guidelines on different racial/ethnic groups in the United States, it present thorough analysis of the fiscal impact and effectiveness of Mandatory Minimum drug sentences. Their findings were based upon mathematical-modeling of various economic and social factors, as well as detailed analysis of the effects of such policies, coming to a number of conclusions. · The number of prior federal/state drug felony convictions, Mandatory minimums have been popular with political figures who want to appear "tough on drugs," with bipartisan support in many cases. For these proponents of such legislation and policies, the certitude and harshness of mandatory minimums make these sentences a strong deterrent for possession or sale of drugs. These programs also work to achieve goals of incarceration, including punishment of the convicted, keeping released convicts from committing more crimes, as well as the deterrence factor for those not in prison. The general American populace does not view prisons as "correctional institutions", whose goal is to rehabilitate inmates. Instead, they view prisons as a place to punish those who have committed a crime, to keep these offenders isolated from society and discourage others from following this life of crime. Mandatory minimums are seen as a way to equalize the sentences given to those guilty of sale or possession of illegal drugs, to reduce trial costs, and to be "tough on drugs." However, one must asks whether these policies are really doing what the judicial system is intended to do, "let the punishment fit the crime." Surprisingly enough, the Federal government tends to agree with this increasing belief that Mandatory Minimum sentences, in terms of crack/cocaine offenses, may have significant racial or ethnic disparities. In December of 1993, following lengthy Congressional hearings regarding Mandatory Minimum sentencing in terms of race and drug offenses, the US Department of Justice, under the auspices of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, published a report entitled, Sentencing in the Federal Courts: Does Race Matter? This report outlined and evaluated the trend towards Mandatory Minimums, and also evaluated the transition to the Sentencing Guidelines established in 1984's Sentencing Reform Act, and how this transition has affected racial/ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system. This report analyzed "racial and ethnic disparities in sentences imposed on Federal offenders before and after implementation of the sentencing guidelines...and the mandatory minimum imprisonment provisions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986." The Bureau of Justice Statistics looked at white, Hispanic and black offenders, looking for patterns among these groups and "simulating the sentences that would have been imposed under alternative sentencing schemes." Interestingly enough, some of their major findings included:
Some common words found in the essay are:
Mandatory Minimum, Drugs Mandatory, Reform Act, Whites Hispanics, District Courts, Mandatory Minimums, Sentencing Commission, Justice Statistics, Drugs Studies, African Americans, mandatory minimum, mandatory minimums, crack cocaine, mandatory minimum sentencing, sentencing guidelines, powder cocaine, minimum sentencing, mandatory sentencing, black offenders, drug offenses, reform act, sentencing reform act, mandatory minimum sentences, mandatory minimum legislation, terms crack/cocaine offenses,
Approximate Word count = 3072
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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