mandatory-minimum

Congress has ordered the panel that advises judges on prison terms to conduct a review of mandatory-minimum sentences, a move that could lead to a dramatic rethinking of how the U.S. incarcerates its criminals.

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: November 12, 2009 2009

The state measures mark a sharp retreat from the war on drugs, which gathered steam in the 1980s and '90s with mandatory-minimum and three-strikes prison sentences that resulted in some drug offenders being locked up for decades.

States Rethink Drug Laws Nathan Koppel 2011

It also led, by extension, to the demonization of those who didn't Just Say No, which produced the Three-Strikes Yer Out! sentences, a refusal to make needle-enchange programs available nationally--a calamitous error, gave the Feds the public backing they needed to implement mandatory-minimum sentencing, which caused the jail population to swell to the point where the insidious privatized prisons became the norm...

Peter Gorman: The Michelle Obama Weight Debate Peter Gorman 2010

Just about this time last year I wrote to Governor Elliot Spitzer asking him to go on a personal rescue mission and grant clemency to a large number of Rockefeller Drug Law offenders who have fully rehabilitated themselves and already served enormous amounts of time behind bars under the draconian provisions of mandatory-minimum sentencing.

Anthony Papa: Governor Paterson's Holiday Rescue Mission 2009

As New York State lawmakers push for reform to "Rockefeller" mandatory-minimum drug laws, Human Rights Watch called for changes to current substance abuse programs and disciplinary practices as well.

Human Rights Watch: New York: Stop Sending Prison Drug Users to 'the Box' 2009

As a former prosecutor of violent crimes, I applaud New York's state legislature for replacing the mandatory-minimum sentences of the Rockefeller Drug Laws with judicial discretion to divert non-violent, low-level drug offenders into treatment programs rather than sentencing them to state prison.

Richard Aborn: Embrace the Possible: A New Direction in New York 2009

Spitzer go on a personal rescue mission and grant executive clemency to the large number of Rockefeller Drug Law prisoners who have fully rehabilitated themselves and already served enormous amounts of time behind bars under the draconian provisions of mandatory-minimum sentencing.

Anthony Papa: Rescue Mission for Governor Spitzer 2008

They oppose mandatory-minimum laws that force judges to send people like Nicole Richardson and Jan Warren to prison for years, with no regard for their character or the circumstances of their lives.

Walter Cronkite: Telling the Truth About the War on Drugs 2008

Furthermore, the hodgepodge of state and federal mandatory drug sentences sometimes leads to violent offenders-Florida's rapists, robbers and murderers, for example -- being released early to make room for nonviolent, first-time drug offenders serving lengthy, mandatory-minimum sentences.

A Case For Discretion 2008

About 55% of all federal and over 20% of all state prisoners are convicted of drug-law violations with many of them serving mandatory-minimum sentences for simple possession offences.

Anthony Papa: Bonds, Baseball and the Drug War 2008