I was reading US Today on-line and came across and article about a Federal Judge ignoring sentencing guidelines because she feels that mandatory minimums hurt black people.
A federal judge ignored federal sentencing guidelines Monday and used the conviction of a first-time drug dealer to make a rare policy statement from the bench, saying that mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of drug crimes are hurting the black community.
"Isn't it time for us to say that there is on the one hand the impact of the drug trafficking and on the other hand the impact of mass incarceration of African-Americans from crack cocaine?" U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in her Boston courtroom, according to The Boston Globe. "To suggest that the public safety requires the further incarceration of Mr. Haynes makes no sense."
Well it’s about damn time that somebody finally got the picture. Here it is blacks are only 12% of the population and 39.2% of the jail population. As a matter of fact, minorities make up 60 percent of prison population. To make matters worse, one in three African-American men aged 20-29 is in jail, on probation or on parole as opposed to one in 15 of their white counterparts. Mandatory sentencing guidelines and a growing number of drug-related convictions are factors in a continued growth of inmates held in federal, state and local prisons and jails in the United States.
An in my opinion a lot of this mess boils down to crack cocaine. I vividly remember the late eighties and early nineties when crack first came on the scene. The introduction of crack into the black communities brought massive devastation. I heard tales of women selling their babies, prostituting their young daughters, all kinds of stealing, and a colossal murder rate. All of the sudden you saw good hard working men with good jobs turn into homeless zombies stealing from Family Dollar to support their crack habits. Women that were once good mamas looking like death warmed over. Our once thriving communities became virtual war zones, while gangs and drug deals fought over territory. I began to see a lot of homes on the block become crack houses; others stopped taking care of their home and soon the entire neighborhood look dilapidated and unsafe.
Now twenty some odd years later all these black men are in prison doing looooooog stretches and the black is in scrambles I just glad at least one judge realized that the problem is so much bigger than handing out jail sentences like candy.
If meth dealers and users were handed mandatory sentences there would be uproar in the white community because the tables would turn and suddenly whites would be going to jail in large numbers. I hate drug dealers, regardless or race, religion, creed or color. I feel they all should be punished, but the punishment should be fair and just. It should not matter if the drug is powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, ect. we should be focusing on justice, rehabilitation and the economy .
A federal judge ignored federal sentencing guidelines Monday and used the conviction of a first-time drug dealer to make a rare policy statement from the bench, saying that mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of drug crimes are hurting the black community.
"Isn't it time for us to say that there is on the one hand the impact of the drug trafficking and on the other hand the impact of mass incarceration of African-Americans from crack cocaine?" U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in her Boston courtroom, according to The Boston Globe. "To suggest that the public safety requires the further incarceration of Mr. Haynes makes no sense."
Well it’s about damn time that somebody finally got the picture. Here it is blacks are only 12% of the population and 39.2% of the jail population. As a matter of fact, minorities make up 60 percent of prison population. To make matters worse, one in three African-American men aged 20-29 is in jail, on probation or on parole as opposed to one in 15 of their white counterparts. Mandatory sentencing guidelines and a growing number of drug-related convictions are factors in a continued growth of inmates held in federal, state and local prisons and jails in the United States.
An in my opinion a lot of this mess boils down to crack cocaine. I vividly remember the late eighties and early nineties when crack first came on the scene. The introduction of crack into the black communities brought massive devastation. I heard tales of women selling their babies, prostituting their young daughters, all kinds of stealing, and a colossal murder rate. All of the sudden you saw good hard working men with good jobs turn into homeless zombies stealing from Family Dollar to support their crack habits. Women that were once good mamas looking like death warmed over. Our once thriving communities became virtual war zones, while gangs and drug deals fought over territory. I began to see a lot of homes on the block become crack houses; others stopped taking care of their home and soon the entire neighborhood look dilapidated and unsafe.
Now twenty some odd years later all these black men are in prison doing looooooog stretches and the black is in scrambles I just glad at least one judge realized that the problem is so much bigger than handing out jail sentences like candy.
If meth dealers and users were handed mandatory sentences there would be uproar in the white community because the tables would turn and suddenly whites would be going to jail in large numbers. I hate drug dealers, regardless or race, religion, creed or color. I feel they all should be punished, but the punishment should be fair and just. It should not matter if the drug is powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, ect. we should be focusing on justice, rehabilitation and the economy .
1 comment:
Great Post! ....to know there are more young black males entering jail than entering college as freshmans....its sombering.....but to hear someone in her position stand up for her beliefs makes me know that my rants aren't in vain....I get on my lil' bro all the time about continuing his education.....
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