Mandatory Sentences Quotes & Sayings

Throughout the 1970s, '80s and '90s, federal mandatory minimum laws were implemented that forced judges to deliver sentences far lengthier than they would have if allowed to use their own discretion. The result has been decades of damage, particularly to young people. — Rand Paul

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. — Abraham Lincoln

There must be something in books, something we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing. — Ray Bradbury

Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses are the prime reason that the U.S. prison population has ballooned since the 1980s to over 2.5 million people, a nearly 300% increase. We now lock up one out of every hundred adults, far more than any other country. — Piper Kerman

Among other harsh penalties, the legislation included mandatory minimum sentences for the distribution of cocaine, including far more severe punishment for distribution of crack - associated with blacks - than powder cocaine, associated with whites. — Michelle Alexander

It is impossible to know for certain how many innocent drug defendants convict themselves every year by accepting a plea bargain out of fear of mandatory sentences, — Michelle Alexander

Living in Europe, I was surprised to find out just how little everyone knows about Japan. — Hidetoshi Nakata

Now he felt the despair his father had felt as the familiar world slipped from around him, the valleys gashed and ugly, the woods disappearing. Daddy was right, he thought, the hills were dying, and I was so stupid to believe the hills were eternal, that a father could stay forever young. If only I had talked to him. If only he had let me get close to him. — Rohinton Mistry

Venus favors the bold. — Ovid

In the early 1990s, Target adopted some of Walt Disney's staff training and customer service initiatives. It has since developed a variety of methods - from hiring to coaching to grading performance - to ensure "team members" embody the motto "fast, fun and friendly." (See Chapter 5.) — Laura Rowley

The federal sentencing guidelines should be revised downward. By contrast to the guidelines, I can accept neither the necessity nor the wisdom of federal mandatory minimum sentences. In too many cases, mandatory minimum sentences are unwise and unjust. — Anthony Kennedy

Undisturbed by fears and unspoiled by pleasures, we shall be afraid neither of death nor the gods. — Seneca.

The vastly different sentences afforded drunk drivers and drug offenders speaks volumes regarding who is viewed as disposable - someone to be purged from the body politic - and who is not. Drunk drivers are predominantly white and male. White men comprised 78 percent of the arrests for this offense in 1990 when new mandatory minimums governing drunk driving were being adopted.65 They are generally charged with misdemeanors and typically receive sentences involving fines, license suspension, and community service. Although drunk driving carries a far greater risk of violent death than the use or sale of illegal drugs, the societal response to drunk drivers has generally emphasized keeping the person functional and in society, while attempting to respond to the dangerous behavior through treatment and counseling.66 People charged with drug offenses, though, are disproportionately poor people of color. They are typically charged with felonies and sentenced to prison. — Michelle Alexander