Free Republic

A House-approved bill that the president supports would expand the draconian penalties he supposedly wants to abolish.When he ran for president in 2020, Joe Biden repudiated his long history of pushing harsh penalties for nonviolent drug offenses, calling for the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences. "Biden supports an end to mandatory minimums," his campaign said. "As president, he will work for the passage of legislation to repeal mandatory minimums at the federal level." But by endorsing a bill aimed at cracking down on fentanyl analogs, Biden is doing exactly the opposite. The HALT Fentanyl Act, which the Republican-controlled House of...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a mandatory 55-year prison sentence, condemned as excessive by the federal judge who imposed it, for a man convicted of carrying a handgun during three marijuana deals. Record producer Weldon Angelos received the minimum sentence under the law -- a harsher sentence than a child rapist or a terrorist who detonates a bomb aboard an aircraft would receive, according to his attorneys. The justices, without comment, left the prison term undisturbed. Angelos was convicted of 16 counts of violating federal firearms, drug and money laundering laws in 2003. The charges stemmed...

Forced to impose a sentence he deemed unjust, a Northern District of New York judge took sharp aim last week at a federal statute that required him to impose a life-without-parole term on a 32-year-old "relatively small-time drug dealer" with an IQ of 72. Judge David N. Hurd said child rapists and murderers will go free on parole while Justin D. Powell languishes in prison for life, largely because the defendant was convicted of drug crimes twice during his teenage years, more than a decade before the instant offense. Because of those prior convictions, the sole sentencing option was life,...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Mandatory sentencing frustratedBy Bruce FeinPublished January 18, 2005 Mandatory sentencing slashes crime. The multiple decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court in United States vs. Booker (Jan. 12, 2005) obtusely upended mandatory Federal Sentencing Guidelines in the name of honoring both the Sixth Amendment right to jury trial and congressional intent in enacting the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (SRA).     Congress should race to restore federal mandatory sentences, but with juries finding facts that would determine the severity of punishment.     Career criminals commit the bulk of offenses. Their incarceration forecloses new crimes. Mandatory sentencing also captures...

Here’s a question. How does a young college student who’s never been in trouble with the law before wind up behind bars for life – with no chance for parole? Well, if you said he must have committed murder or something, you’d be wrong. This particular college student was convicted of selling cocaine. As Correspondent Lesley Stahl first reported in 1996, even though this was his very first offense, mandatory sentencing laws dictated that he get life in prison, without the possibility of parole. In 1996, David Lester was an inmate in Michigan, the state with the harshest mandatory sentences...

<p>LOS ANGELES — It's been 10 years since California enacted the "three strikes" law (search ), mandating sentences of 25 years to life for repeat serious or violent offenders. But some say it's time for the no-exceptions enforcement to be loosened.</p>

Just heard on WCBS newsradio NY that CNN reports Carlie Brucia found dead in Sarasota.

As the nation copes with growing budget deficits resulting from the economic downturn, more and more states are scaling back on mandatory minimum sentencing in favor of "smart on crime" policies, according to a new report commissioned by a group opposed to mandatory sentencing laws. But the move is not always motivated by money, said Laura Sager, executive director of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. "The growing movement toward 'smart on crime' sentencing and corrections policies is not driven solely by dollars," she said. "In the last few years, there has been a major shift in public opinion and political will...