The Cost Ineffectiveness of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing In The U.S.

The Background
Mandatory minimum punishments for serious federal offenses are as old as the
republic. Under the 1790 Crimes Act, the required sentence for treason, murder, piracy
and forgery of government securities was death. Later, infractions with baseline
punishments touched on slavery, the manufacture and sale of alcohol and, in the 1980s
as crime rates rose, drugs. The discretion of judges was further limited in 1987 when a
set of federal sentencing guidelines was put in place to curb the disparity in
punishments for the same offenses in different regions of the U.S. These guidelines, in
conjunction with mandatory minimums, were seen as leading to longer sentences. In
2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sentencing guidelines could be no more
than advisory, but mandatory minimums were unaffected by the decision.
A 2014 decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to retroactively reduce most
federal drug sentences brought the release of thousands of inmates, so that for the first
time in three decades the federal prison population began to decline.
It numbers about 190,000 inmates, 30,000 fewer than the peak.
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