Criminal Behavior AK

Mandatory minimum sentencing policies require a judge to sentence a convicted criminal to a predetermined sentence assigned to that crime, oftentimes regardless of the presence of mitigating circumstances. These policies were established to reduce crime, increase equity in sentencing, and ensure that high-level crimes, especially drug-related crimes and crimes with guns, were met with immediate, strict punishment (United States Sentencing Commission [USSC], 2011). However, in addition to causing prison overpopulation, studies show that these policies disproportionately affect minorities and low income; therefore, these policies create social and racial disparities within the criminal justice system on a macro level. Therefore, without judicial discretion, these policies create an unnecessarily heavy-handed sentence without due process that impedes the goal of the criminal justice system to be fair and equity-based.