Posted on 07/01/2004 7:47:45 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
Ask Your Representative To Oppose The Safe Access to Drug Treatment & Child Protection Act of 2004.
H.R. 4547, "The Safe Access to Drug Treatment & Child Protection Act of 2004" would dramatically increase mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses. Under the proposed legislation, sponsored by House Judiciary Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), any person age 21 or over who attempts or conspires to offer marijuana to someone younger than 18 years old shall face a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison. The mandatory penalty for a subsequent violation of the statute is life in prison.
Defendants found to have distributed marijuana near a drug treatment facility, or who have offered pot to someone who is currently or has been previously enrolled in drug treatment program, would receive a mandatory prison sentence of five years to life under the proposal.
Representative Sensenbrenner's proposed expansion of mandatory minimum sentencing comes at the same time that delegates of the 400,000-member American Bar Association are considering recommendations to abolish the statutes. The ABA recently released a report concluding, "There is no need for mandatory minimum sentences in a guided sentencing system." Authors wrote that mandatory minimum sentences shift sentencing discretion away from courts to prosecutors, have an adverse effect on minority defendants, and "are inconstant with the notion that sentences should consider all of the relevant circumstances of an offense and offender." They blamed the enactment of mandatory minimum statutes for the dramatic rise in the American prison population, noting that "in the 1980s and 1990s the majority of new prisoners were nonviolent."
The United States incarcerates its residents at a rate of "roughly five to eight times higher than the countries of Western Europe, and twelve times higher than Japan," the report found.
Please write your member of Congress today and urge them to oppose H.R. 4547.
Would anyone dare? Don't we do everything "to protect the children"? Paging Vice President Hillary - please tell us what to do for the "common good".
This bill should sail right through.
No problem with cracking down. I am not sure mandatory sentencing is a good idea in any case, though.
I object to a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison.
Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. Make it equivalent to the penalty under federal law for providing alcohol to a minor.
(Oh, wait. There isn't a fed law for that....)
It sure removes the incentive to keep witnesses alive.
Oh -- and the same for nicotine too.
I object.
A crime is a crime. It doesn't matter if the victim is a child, a gay, or a black. Or if it does, then it should be at the discretion of a judge.
Further, it is stupid to fill up our prisons with non-violent criminals serving mandatory sentences.
Finally, "Do it for the children..." does not strike a chord with me. They are not my kids.
I wonder what Sensenbrenner's been smoking? You can murder somebody and get off with less than that.
What does that have to do with children?
Ground up $100 bills. The WOsD is big business.
Tragically, getting rid of liberal judges is almost impossible.Therefore, in response the legislators have enacted mandatory sentencing.
Prosecuters complain,defense councils complain,the defendants complain,taxpayers complain and the judges whose actions on the bench caused this to come about complain, without accepting responsability.
As an aside, this law will only apply to Federal cases so if
a perpertrator is caught by munincipal or state Law Enforcement these mandatory sentences do not apply.
Local prosecutors routinely kick local cases up to the Federal level. Or at least they threaten to in order to get a confession. Complaining? I don't think so.
Goofy, boutique laws,
part of the reason that Repubs are the minority.
If this guy has nuts, he would bring back
the 55 MPH speed limit.
"minimum sentencing" legislation is seldom a good idea... for the people.
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.