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Full-Text Articles in Criminal Procedure
Sentencing In The States: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Julie Stewart
Sentencing In The States: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Julie Stewart
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Mandatory sentencing laws are responsible for the booming prison population in the United States. They are applied most frequently to crimes involving drugs and mandate harsh penalties of five, ten, twenty years or more behind bars for crimes involving no violence. Julie Stewart, President of the Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation (FAMM) and the sister of a marijuana user who spent five years in a federal prison, describes the unfairness of America’s sentencing policies, with a particular emphasis on the application of mandatory minimum sentences to drug-related convictions. These laws have led to a marked increase in the number of …