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Something Dems (and all Americans) need to reckon with:
As deeply imbedded as racial violence is in our policing system, so too is Americans’ base instinct to punish as harshly as possible and write off those who transgress society‘a norms.
As deeply imbedded as racial violence is in our policing system, so too is Americans’ base instinct to punish as harshly as possible and write off those who transgress society‘a norms.
And of course, white supremacy and racism rears its murderous and ugly head in this realm. What constitutes justice in any criminal case is a question you’ll get many million answers to, and the opinion of the person answerind will be colored by implicit bias for sure.
Joe Biden’s proposal to end mandatory minimums and incentivize states to do the same is a truly monumental proposal which isn’t getting enough shine.
Our federal prisons are filled with people, many Black or Latinx, almost all poor, whose cases were adopted from state prosecutions really for the sole reason that the feds can bring charges that require draconian mandatory sentences the states don’t have.
I say this all the time, but longer sentences - particularly those imposed pursuant to mandatory minimum penalties which strip judges’ discretion - do not deter crime. It’s the certainty and not the severity of punishment which deters.
No would-be criminal stops dead in his or her tracks and thwarts their own crime because they may face a mandatory minimum sentence. No one thinks of what their exposure would be before acting. The human brain doesn’t work that way.
If anything, mandatory minimums and unduly harsh sentences breed disrespect for the law. It leaves a defendant with a feeling he or she wasn’t considered as a human. That they don’t have individual value. This, in turn, frustrates their mindset toward rehabilitation.
It also vests too much discretion in a defendant‘s punishment in the hands of the prosecutor in determining which charges to bring. And we know from the Ashcroft/Sessions/Barr memos GOP AGs instruct line prosecutors to charge the harshest crimes they think they can prove.
I have a plethora of research to back this up if people are interested. It dates back centuries, as far as Cesare Beccaria’s “On Crimes and Punishments” from the 1700’s. I’m aware of nothing substantive or reliable to the contrary.
I’m not saying Biden is the first to propose this, but it’s not talked about enough. It’s a big, big deal.
There’s also pitfalls in placing the discretion back in the hands of judges. It can create sentencing disparities and help some but not other defendants. But on balance, I lean extremely heavily in favor of eliminating mandatories from the federal code.
So as we reimagine public safety, sentencing reform absolutely must be part and parcel of our plan to bring families together and create greater opportunities for them to prevent crime both in the first instance and to reduce recidivism.
Of course there’s 100 typos in this thread. It’s “embedded.” And so on...
