Mandatory Outrage

Faithful H&R reader Ruthless pointed me to Debra Saunders' damning SF Chronicle column about mandatory minimum sentences. A snippet:

When I reached [former federal prison warden and supporter of mandatory minimums for drug crimes Joe] Bogan on his cell phone, I asked him how many drug kingpins he thought were in federal prison today. Bogan answered, "My estimation is of the 85,000 drug traffickers in the federal system, there are probably fewer than 1 percent of whom you could call kingpins."

Some inmates serving long sentences are first-time offenders such as Brenda Valencia, who was 19 years old when she was arrested for driving a drug dealer to another dealer's home. The feds charged Valencia for her role in a drug conspiracy. Her sentence: 12 1/2 years. The sentencing judge wrote that he found Valencia's sentence to be "an outrage," but that the law forced him to apply it.

Read the whole thing here and then call your congressman.

Comments

[jemezhobbit]

"and then call your congressman"

.. yeah, right ..

.. two of New Mexico's Congressthieves, Sentator Pete Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson (both Republicans) have publicly declared that any discussion of changing the War on Drugs is "off the table" .. they won't even talk about it..

.. can't argue with a closed mind .. just have to vote them out...

[Will Spencer]

Aside from discussions of mercy, leniency, fairness, or any of the usual liberal lines...

1. The government is wasting billions of taxpayer dollars to incarcerate these people.

2. The government is losing tax revenue these people would be generating if they were not imprisoned. Prisoners don't help pay into the SSA fund to cover that expensive drug prescription benefit the Congress recently approved.

The War on Drugs is fiscally irresponsible.