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Mandatory minimum sentences are an old idea, but not a good one • Missouri Independent [1]

['Jeremy Cady', 'Maria Goellner', 'Rasha Abousalem', 'Helen Webster', 'Douglas Burns', 'More From Author', 'April']

Date: 2024-04-12

It should be common sense: Criminal justice laws ought to make us safer.

Currently, in Missouri, there are many pieces of legislation under consideration that would increase the use of mandatory minimums and roll back parole eligibility. The truth is, these bills won’t make us safer – but they will cost a lot.

Mandatory minimum sentences are an old idea, but not a good one. They’re a “one size fits all scheme” that forces judges to operate as glorified clerks, ticking off boxes that add up to certain mandatory minimum prison terms. These types of laws restrict judges from taking into account the full situation of each case. Rather than making “the time fit the crime,” mandatory minimums make judicial disasters far more common.

All Missourians deserve to be safe, yet 64% of violent crimes reported to police in Missouri in 2022 were not solved. If we are concerned about safety, shouldn’t we focus on solving that 64% instead of increasing punishment for the 36%? Mandatory minimums may sound tough, but long sentences across the board just don’t simply reduce crime, as proven by more than 30 years of evidence shows it.

One 50-state study found no relationship between long drug sentences and drug use or overdose rates, and another study found that mandatory minimums for illegal gun possession did not reduce gun ownership or violent crime rates. People committing crimes either don’t know or don’t care about these laws. But, the bureaucratic rubber-stamping of mandatory minimums carry staggering costs.

Outside of Medicaid, prison costs are the second-fastest growing area of state budgets. Prisons cost most states almost five times more than they did in the mid-1980s due to having to house and feed people for much longer periods of time. Heavy taxpayer burdens like these demand a closer look.

There are many ways to lower costs without harming public safety, and scrapping mandatory minimums would be a good place to start. Judges can still impose harsh sentences where incapacitation, ensuring an individual cannot commit future crimes, is warranted. We just don’t need them to incapacitate across the board when Missouri safety might be better served by a parent working and providing for their family while on supervision.

Overly long prison sentences also devastate families. Families are the building blocks of our society, and too rarely do we recognize that this is especially true for public safety.

Family ties are one of the strongest determinants of whether a person will be rehabilitated or commit new crimes. Supportive family members provide emotional support to help incarcerated people cope with the stresses of being locked up, as well as successfully re-entering society and finding housing and job success.

We don’t have to paint with such a broad brush all the time. Yes, some people are dangerous or have done things so bad they should never leave prison.

That’s not most people.

Most people can and do change as they age. Ninety percent of incarcerated people eventually complete their sentences and come home to work and be with their families. Overly harsh prison sentences, including those that relocate people away from their community, can harden people and prevent rehabilitation by severing critical family ties.

We all deserve to live in safe communities. Taxpayer dollars should go toward cost-effective solutions that work, instead of outdated and ineffective policies like minimum sentencing requirements. We should start by untying the hands of judges and letting them do their jobs.

Missouri lawmakers should keep mandatory minimums and parole rollbacks off the table this year, so that families can be part of the solution for a safer and healthier Missouri.

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[1] Url: https://missouriindependent.com/2024/04/12/mandatory-minimum-sentences-are-an-old-idea-but-not-a-good-one/

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