Mandatory sentencing

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday a proposal currently being examined by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that will pave the way for certain individuals who have been charged with nonviolent drug offenses to be eligible for reduced sentences. The news is the latest in a series of moves by the Justice Department to adjust […]

President Barack Obama‘s commutation of 8 crack cocaine sentences that he said were unduly harsh underscores the problem with so-called “mandatory minimum” drug sentencing laws that force judges to impose long sentences even if they don’t fit the crime. “The people [whose sentences he commuted] yesterday already had served 15 years, many of them — […]