From The Practitioner's Perch: How Mandatory Minimum Sentences And The Prosecution's Unfettered Control Over Sentence Reductions For Cooperation Subvert Justice And Exacerbate Racial Disparity

From The Practitioner’s Perch: How Mandatory Minimum Sentences And The Prosecution’s Unfettered Control Over Sentence Reductions For Cooperation Subvert Justice And Exacerbate Racial Disparity

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At every stage of the criminal justice process,
mandatory minimums contribute to disparate impact among racial groups.
They encourage policing practices, investigative techniques, and
prosecutorial strategies that are illogical, counterintuitive, and
sometimes arbitrary and abusive. The ultimate example of how
mandatory minimums have fostered prosecutorial excess is the
unfettered prosecutorial discretion to disregard those minimums for
so‐called cooperators. This essay provides a practitioner's view of
how mandatory mini‐mum sentences diminish fairness and contribute to
arbitrary justice.

Norman L. Reimer: Executive Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

Lisa M. Wayne: President of NACDL.

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From The Practitioner’s Perch: How Mandatory Minimum Sentences And The Prosecution’s Unfettered Control Over Sentence Reductions For Cooperation Subvert Justice And Exacerbate Racial Disparity