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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSections Of Rand Paul’s Op-Ed On Drug Sentencing - Plagiarized From Article Week Earlier
Sections Of Rand Pauls Op-Ed On Drug Sentencing Plagiarized From Article Week EarlierPortions of the Kentucky senators op-ed in The Washington Times appear to be copied word-for-word from an article published a week earlier.
Sections of an op-ed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wrote on mandatory minimums in The Washington Times in September appear nearly identical to an article by Dan Stewart of The Week that ran a week earlier. The discovery comes amid reports from BuzzFeed that Paul plagiarized in his book and in several speeches.
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Heres how Stewart wrote his introduction to his article on Rethinking mandatory sentencing:
Its the automatic imposition of a minimum number of years in prison for specific crimes usually related to drugs. By design, mandatory sentencing laws take discretion away from prosecutors and judges so as to impose harsh sentences, regardless of circumstances.
Mandatory sentencing began in the 1970s as a response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, and over the decades has put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars for drug possession and sale, and other non-violent crimes. Since mandatory sentencing began, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year.
Is that a good thing?
Most public officials including liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have decided that its not. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
Mandatory sentencing began in the 1970s as a response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, and over the decades has put hundreds of thousands of people behind bars for drug possession and sale, and other non-violent crimes. Since mandatory sentencing began, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year.
Is that a good thing?
Most public officials including liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have decided that its not. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
And heres how Paul wrote it a week later with the text bolded that appears copied:
Mandatory-minimum sentences automatically impose a minimum number of years in prison for specific crimes usually related to drugs. By design, mandatory-sentencing laws take discretion away from prosecutors and judges so as to impose harsh sentences, regardless of circumstances.
Since mandatory sentencing began in the 1970s in response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year. Drug offenders in the United States spend more time under the criminal justice systems formal control than drug offenders anywhere else in the world.
Most public officials liberals, conservatives and libertarians have decided that mandatory-minimum sentencing is unnecessary. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory-sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
Since mandatory sentencing began in the 1970s in response to a growing drug-and-crime epidemic, Americas prison population has quadrupled, to 2.4 million. America now jails a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country, including China and Iran, at the staggering cost of $80 billion a year. Drug offenders in the United States spend more time under the criminal justice systems formal control than drug offenders anywhere else in the world.
Most public officials liberals, conservatives and libertarians have decided that mandatory-minimum sentencing is unnecessary. At least 20 states, both red and blue, have reformed their mandatory-sentencing laws in some way, and Congress is considering a bipartisan bill that would do the same for federal crimes.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/sections-of-rand-pauls-op-ed-on-drug-sentencing-plagiarized
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Sections Of Rand Paul’s Op-Ed On Drug Sentencing - Plagiarized From Article Week Earlier (Original Post)
kpete
Nov 2013
OP
longship
(40,416 posts)1. (Ayn) Rand Paul is a serial plagiarist. nt
malaise
(268,717 posts)2. Apparently this entitled prick has no idea about the meaning
of plagiarism. He has a serious problem.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)3. Like so many on that side of the aisle, never an original thought.
Like a parrot...only dumber.