Here’s The NY Times on Grassley’s push for federal sentencing reform, which now has a real shot of passing:
A bipartisan group of senators has reached a deal on the most substantial rewrite of the nation’s sentencing and prison laws in a generation, giving judges more latitude to sidestep mandatory minimum sentences and easing drug sentences that have incarcerated African-Americans at much higher rates than white offenders.
The lawmakers believe they can get the measure to President Trump during the final weeks of the year, if the president embraces it.
The compromise would eliminate the so-called stacking regulation that makes it a federal crime to possess a firearm while committing another crime, like a drug offense; expand the “drug safety valve” allowing judges to sidestep mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders; and shorten mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, according to draft text of the bill obtained by The New York Times.
George Will has
this piece, which addresses a state sentence of life for a juvenile:
Parents who have raised sons understand that civilization’s primary task is to civilize adolescent males, a task that is difficult for many reasons, some of which neuroscience explains. The part of the brain that stimulates anger and aggression is larger in males than in females (for evolutionary, meaning adaptive, reasons). And the part that restrains anger is smaller in males. The Supreme Court has noted that adolescent brain anatomy can cause “transient rashness, proclivity for risk, and inability to assess consequences,” thereby diminishing “moral culpability” and, more important, enhancing “the prospect that, as the years go by,” offenders’ “deficiencies will be reformed.” Hence “a lifetime in prison is a disproportionate sentence for all but the rarest of children, those whose crimes reflect ‘irreparable corruption.’ ”
Judges are supposed to be a check on the executive branch. I really don’t understand why sentences aren’t much lower. So many judges have become accustomed to just following the prosecutor/probation officer/sentencing guidelines, that we have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. It’s absurd. It will be interesting to see how the new crop of Trump judges sentence defendants, especially non-violent first time offenders.
10 comments:
It has always confused me how conservatives tend to: 1) hold themselves out as "freedom loving" with a strong christian faith; and at the same time 2) believe that the government has the right to kill you or hold you against your will for life on the say-so of a handful of un-elected strangers.
What happened to limited government?
What happened to thou shall not kill? Turning the other cheek? Forgiveness? And only God may judge?
Sorry for the short rant.
I get what GW is saying, but "civilization's primary task is to civilize adolescent males"??
Really? As someone who has raised two sons, I could not disagree more.
Because you didn't attempt to civilize your sons?
8:41 - I'm no conservative but let me defend them. First, federal judges are unelected. They don't even have to take a test. Second, limited government means putting as much in the hands of citizens as possible. Would you ever have a bench trial in front of a federal judge? They are all programmed to convict. Would much rather have a jury decide.
841 tell me more how you feel about christians.
I have never understood the ubiquitous claim that because our incarceration rate is the highest, it is therefore too high. Why would smart people repeat that? Maybe everyone else is too low and can't afford to warehouse the most dangerous among them.
Here is an example of a serial rapist from sweden on the street after only 8 years:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thelocal.se/20181012/swedens-worst-serial-rapist-conditional-release-parole-jail/amp
I have no doubt if he was American, most judges here would put him away for much longer. I personally strongly prefer that result.
This case is just one in a data set which purports to prove Americans incarcerate too much. Maybe so in some cases, even perhaps large classes of cases. But extrapolating from overall level of incarceration seems to miss the mark, in my opinion.
8:10
OMG, where to begin? Oh I know, how about facts instead of one anecdotal case from Sweden. That's what smart people do, they look at facts.
In the United States, the majority of prison population (federal, Florida, and most states) is composed of non-violent drug offenders. Federal sentences for non-violent drug offenders, including mandatory minimum sentences, are way too harsh with no logical basis. AND, oh yeah, most of those affected are African-American, Latino and largely, poor. Couple that with for-profit private prisons, and you get a system that is essentially throwing away many people who just do not deserve it. Want more info, go to FAMM.org or to many of the reputable news organizations that have reported on the problem.
@6:44 (8:41, here). I like christians very much. Virtually all of my favorite people are christians, and the the ideas of christianity are beautiful. What I don't like are hypocrites. :-)
927
Are drug dealers "nonviolent drug offenders"?
@653: depends, did they commit an act of violence?
Because if all they did was grow a few hundred pounds of grass in a well wired/it barn in Homestead, and whole sale it, they are indeed "nonviolent drug offenders."
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