Posted on 09/23/2003 11:28:08 AM PDT by Brian S
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on Tuesday, September 23, 2003
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Printer-friendly version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT is not only on a collision course with civil libertarians in this country because of his implementation of the Patriot Act, but he is well on his way to colliding with at least one conservative Supreme Court justice. Ashcroft's Justice Department is compiling data on judges who give lighter sentences than federal guidelines prescribe.
The new policy requires prosecutors to notify officials in the Justice Department whenever a federal judge issues sentences below these guidelines.
But Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a person no one could possibly describe as "soft on crime," believes prison terms are too long, and he is in favor of throwing out mandatory minimum sentences for some federal crimes.
In a speech before the American Bar Association, Kennedy said, "our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too long." His words were met by deafening applause.
Kennedy went on to say, "I can't accept either the necessity or the wisdom of federal mandatory minimum sentences. In all too many cases, mandatory minimum sentences are unjust. The federal sentencing guidelines should be revised downward."
Ashcroft believes the public and crime victims expect the penalties established by law for specific crimes would be imposed by the justice system.
A bill signed into law by President Bush in April makes it tougher for federal judges to depart from sentencing guidelines.
What Ashcroft is doing is keeping a blacklist of judges who use their judgment in meting out punishment and who are not considered to be cooperative with prosecutors.
That unbalances the criminal justice system and makes judges pure automatons in the courtroom.
The circumstances in all criminal cases are bound to be different.
Maintaining one single standard for all cases is precisely the reason why the United States prison system contains the largest number of inmates in the Western hemisphere.
Justice Kennedy had the courage to call the system unfair and unworkable.
We hope the message gets through to the Bush administration.
I think we may actually be approaching a time when the courts will find they have overreached.
They seem almost maniacal in their desire to be slapped down.
God will kill anyone who disagrees with Ashcroft.
The connection is not necessarily correct.
Kennedy is an airhead. People have a choice. They can live within the law, or they can deal with the consequences of not having done so. I don't feel sorry for those who opt to deal with the consequences of committing crimes.
All unrelated to mandatory minimum sentences.
If it comes to feeling sorry for perps or their victims, the perps are going to be waiting a hell of a long time for my sympathy.
Nothing about this is related to sympathy. It's about whether minimum mandatory sentences are just in punishment or even helpful in mimimizing crime.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.