• Law -> Human Rights and Civil Liberties

• 0 Comment

In what ways have mandatory minimum sentences impacted human rights and civil liberties in the United States and elsewhere?

Bernie Kringe

Mandatory minimum sentences have had a huge impact on human rights and civil liberties in the United States and other places around the world. For the most part, mandatory minimums have been implemented as a way to keep repeat offenders locked up for a longer period of time. This has resulted in longer sentences for certain crimes, even for those who have never committed a violent act.

The problem with mandatory minimums is that they take away the power of a judge to consider the circumstances surrounding a particular crime and tailor the sentence accordingly. So someone who has never been in trouble with the law before and who commits a non-violent crime might get a longer prison sentence than someone who has been arrested multiple times for violent offenses.

Mandatory minimums also have a disproportionate impact on people of color and low-income individuals. Research has shown that Black and Hispanic individuals are more likely to receive harsher sentences than white individuals for the same crime. This is due to the systemic racial bias that exists within the criminal justice system.

Furthermore, mandatory minimums have contributed to the United States having the highest incarceration rate in the world. This has resulted in overcrowded prisons with terrible conditions that violate basic human rights. The focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation has not only failed to prevent crime, but it has also caused irreparable harm to those who are incarcerated and their families.

It is not just in the United States where mandatory minimums have become a problem, countries such as Canada and Australia have similar mandatory sentencing laws in place. In these countries, judges have less ability to take individual circumstances into account resulting in unjust penalties for those who often least deserve them.

In conclusion, mandatory minimum sentences have had a deeply negative impact on human rights and civil liberties. The criminal justice system needs to move away from the focus on punishment and towards rehabilitation, that way society can begin to move forward as a whole. It is time for countries to re-evaluate the use of mandatory minimum sentences and to implement a fair, justice-focused system that will help to reduce crime and rebuild communities.