By: Kevin Ring, 08/04/2015
Defenders of America’s criminal sentencing laws have relied on just two arguments for the last 20 years: Lengthy mandatory minimum sentences have caused crime to fall and have helped prosecutors persuade guilty defendants to cooperate against others.
These arguments served supporters of the status quo well because they had superficial appeal. Today, however, both arguments have been proven false, and even former defenders of the lock-’em-all-up policies have jumped ship and now back commonsense reform.