Minimum Sentencing and Cocaine Use
Overview and Issues for Debate
Federal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes (mandatory minimums) cover drug dealing and using a gun to commit a Federal crime, among other crimes. They circumscribe judicial sentencing discretion. They have been criticized as unthinkingly harsh and incompatible with a rational sentencing guideline system; yet they have also been embraced as hallmarks of truth in sentencing and a means of incapacitating the criminally dangerous. Among the bills introduced in the recently adjourned 107th Congress (2001_2002), some would have created new mandatory minimums, several would have enlarged existing mandatory minimums, others would have eliminated existing mandatory minimums, and some would have adjusted existing…
