America’s cautionary tale of mandatory minimums

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/02/03/americas_cautionary_tale_of_mandatory_minimums.html

America’s cautionary tale of mandatory minimums
By: Jennifer Carlson Published on Mon Feb 03 2014

As the Supreme Court of Canada decides whether to consider the Harper-backed mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, Canadians, especially Canadian conservatives, should take a cue from Americans who have already suffered the fiscal and social consequences of mandatory minimum sentencing.

There are few things that conservatives and progressives in Washington, D.C., can agree on. From health care to welfare to immigration reform to the national debt, U.S. politicians prefer dissension over concession. But there’s one exception: politicians on the left and the right are becoming unlikely allies against a bloated criminal justice system. One of their major targets? Mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drugs, guns and other offences. These policies are expensive, unconstitutional and largely ineffective.

The American use of mandatory minimum sentencing gave Canadian conservatives the fuel to push for their own program of “tough on crime” policies. The dramatic drop in crime in the U.S. starting in the early 1990s was initially attributed to these policies, even though social scientists remain unable to verify the effects on crime rates.

The question of deterrence, however, has been eclipsed by bigger concerns in the U.S.: recent Gallup polls show that Americans are not nearly as concerned about crime as they are about the economy, the national debt and the size of the federal government. Given these concerns and America’s relatively low crime rates (at least compared to the 1990s), the call to end minimum sentencing guidelines has become a low-hanging fruit of bipartisanship. This is especially true for drug laws.