Little help required from some of my more legal-minded friends: why is it that we require minimum sentences for crimes that appear so bad that youd think judges would hand out a fairly tough sentence anyway? So in the case of going out, getting wasted and high, smashing a random person in the head and killing them (which, to me, seems like a fairly serious crime) how is it that we need a piece of legislation to ensure a befittingly harsh sentence, rather than judges just going yup, that was pretty bad - I sentence you to [insert harsh sentence]? To my simple mind, all we seem to be doing is guaranteeing jail time with no lee-way for judicial discretion (in instances where there IS actually a cause for it). I dont quite get it. Also - is there any evidence at all from anywhere that mandatory minimums reduce crime? (I could probably google that but feel free to just tell me).
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:10:23 +0000
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