mandatory minimums

One of the real attorneys ought to be answering this but I'll try to be as accurate as an obessive watcher of NYPD BLUE, a tv police drama, can be.

We in the USA have a system where a person convicted of a crime must serve a certain number of years no matter what the conditions are surrounding the act. This is especially true in drug related crimes. That 'certain number of years' is the mandatory minimum.

Mandatory: required; A judge is required under the system to impose a certain number of years.
So people will say "The mandatory minimum for that is five years."

There was, as is, a lot of discussion over whether the Congress or a State government like the State of New York, has the power to tell a judge what the minimum sentence must be in a case, some people, me included, think it restricts the power of a judge to make judgements.

Joe

The explanation is as clear as crystal! Joe.
Yet it is also inspirational. I fear the mandatory minimums would in some sort affect the principle of judicial independence.

Of course they would and they do.

There is a famous case where an 18 year old girl was given a package to deliver. It was her uncle, a known drug dealer, who gave her the package. She was stopped by police and searched and, of course, the package was full of drugs. She was tried for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance -- mandatory minimum??-- twelve years. The jury didn't believe that she didn't know what she was carrying so this high school senior was sent to prison.

Luckily, many people are looking after such people, helping them finish their education and get ready for freedom, but it may be a lost cause.

What did you mean by

Aren't people let out of prison???

Joe

Poor girl! That was really a heartbroken story if the girl really didn't know what she was carrying.

The sentence "We give our prisoners up for dead." is from the article, not written by me.

I think the writer means the measure of cracking down the crime is too tough to protect a criminal's legal rights.