Minimal/Mandatory Sentencing: Unfair or Fair??? You be the Judge!

A Mandatory Sentence is a controversial court decision setting where a judge's decision is limited by the law. Judges lose control over sentencing and cannot apply discretion given the particular facts of a case. It wont matter whether a drug defendant was a kingpin or low-level participant, if convicted for a crime that falls under a mandatory sentence a long and underserved sentence can be given. Billy Ochoa was sentenced to 326 years to life for 13 counts of welfare fraud totaling $2,100. Weldon Angelos was sentenced to 55 years for possessing a handgun while he sold $350 worth of marijuana to a police informant. Mandatory sentencing has increased the number of minorities in prison. So we must ask are these sentencing tactics keeping our streets safe? Are these laws a new way of enslaving minority youth? Would making drugs legal be a more effective way to end crime? Do all people who commit crimes deserve a second chance?