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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page discussion of mandatory drug sentencing. The author examines the statistics of drug sentencing and contends that mandatory sentencing for offenders may in fact be punishing society as much as or even more than it is punishing the criminal! The argument is presented that mandatory sentencing is not only ineffective it is counterproductive in that it puts an unnecessary strain on society as a whole. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPdrgSnt.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Our society revolves around the precept, after all, that individuals should be punished for their crimes and allowing judges to individual sentence these offenders in the past resulted in considerable
variation in sentencing for the same crime (Bazelon, 2004). We regard the existence of mechanisms for punishment as a deterrent for criminal activity but believe that in order for
that deterrent to work to its fullest the sentences for particular crimes must be rigid. With more careful consideration, however, it becomes apparent that mandatory sentencing for offenders may
in fact be punishing society as much as or even more than it is punishing the criminal! It can be contended that mandatory sentencing is not only ineffective it
is counterproductive in that it puts an unnecessary strain on society as a whole. Mandatory sentencing is costly and could be considered to increase our incidence of crime in
that it encourages corruption within law enforcement and the criminal justice system itself. Finally, mandatory sentencing imprisons non-violent offenders and diverts law enforcement resources from areas which would be
a better societal application. The literature on this topic can be grouped into two broad groups: 1. that based on emotion yet little fact, and 2. That
based on fact. The purpose of this paper will be to review the latter. One of the most obvious impacts of mandatory
sentencing for drug offenders is the economic impact. The war we as a society are waging on drug offenders is a tremendous tax drain. In the early 1990s
some 300,000 people a year were arrested on marijuana charges alone (Grinspoon, 1994). Today our courtrooms are even more clogged and our prisons are overflowing. Some 2.1 million
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