Mandatory Drug Sentences Opposing Viewpoints

This significance of this paper is to summarize and evaluate the debate on whether the petty drug offenders should be crowding our prisons, and also if some drugs should be legalized or at least decriminalized to reduce our prison populations. This issue is linked to Parenti’s discussion on drugs and the “War of Drugs”. Many of prisons in the United States are over crowded because of the petty offenders and the first time offenders that have minimum mandatory sentences, which are outrageous sentences for these offenders. Parenti notes that “a Federal Judge sentenced a man twenty two years for beating and elderly woman to death. A few hours later the same judge sentenced a 25 year old first time drug offender, father of two young children, to 55 years.” (p.124)

The articles that I have chosen to debate the positives and negatives of reducing mandatory sentencing for drug offenders. This aspect is a very controversial issue right now. Many people are getting sentenced to serve more prison time for petty drug offenses than for murder. These drug offenders are being charged with harsher punishments than that of mobsters, murderers, child molesters, and rapists. The first article is entitled “Prison overcrowding creates a Need for Prison Alternatives”, written by Alida Merlo and Peter Benekos. The second article is written David Risley and is entitled “Mandatory minimum sentences are an Effective Strategy in the War on Drugs”.

The first article states that the incarceration of many criminals is not necessary. The petty offenders are being thrown in jail for many years at a time. With most of the jails and prison populations going up, the government is forced to build new prisons or adding on to existing buildings. The governments, including federal, state, and local, are forced to look at some alternative ways around incarceration because many don’t have the money to build on to their prisons and jails. Some of the alternatives to spending the money on building new facilities are probation, rehabilitation, parole, and house arrest. Some offenders would rather spend months in jail as opposed to doing intense supervised probation, because going and sitting in a cell having three square meals a day is much easier than having to worry about going to work and having to see a probation or parole officer. Some states spend more money on funding new prisons or renovations than higher education. Marlo and Benekos explain that “In twenty years, California has added one university to the State System while building twenty one new prisons”. (Para.22)

The second article states that mandatory minimum sentences ate necessary for drug offenders and also to win the war on drugs. In some areas like importation centers and also metropolitan areas, the crimes are sometimes considered routine. Instances like that cause drug crime rates to rise because some get away with more than others. The ones that get away with the light sentences are likely to become repeat offenders. Some people believe that many drug dealers can not be stopped because they are risk takers so they carefully look at the risks and change the