What is going on with the Utah judicial system?
Check out these two articles from today's Salt Lake Tribune:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7630076?source=rv http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7630077?source=rv Case 1: Man gets 55 YEARS for dealing pot with a concealed firearm (first offense)- the man is black. Case 2: Man gets 1-15 years for nearly starving a child to death over the course of a year while the child's mother was in Iraq (child went from 35 pounds to 13 under his care while he was admittedly wasted on drugs and alcohol)- man is white. Race may have nothing to do with the disparity, but you have to at least wonder. 55 years for dealing pot with a gun hardly seems constitutional. |
One could argue that the US's treatment of drugs as a whole is a form of racism. Those convicted of possession with intent to distribute often get sentences that exceed assault or manslaughter. I don't know if I agree that it's racist, but I do think that our treatment of drug users/dealers is disproportionately severe.
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Legislators love to look tough and enact mandatory minimum sentencing, but 99% of the time something that removes discretion from the judge or prosecutor is bad. Bad bad bad. Sounds to me like they have a lousy law. I don't see it as racist though. I hope the 8th amendment challenge is successful. Sounds like the trial judge was all but inviting that sort of challenge with the language he used when he imposed it. |
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The mandatory minimum sentencing, as Woot noted, does have some possible racist factors driving it. In any event, it is an awful idea and rarely produces anything good. |
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Judge Cassell has lamented that it was a harsh sentence, but he had no choice but to hand down the punishment. It has absolutely nothing to do with race. The other guy has pretty much been given a death sentence when the other prisoners find out what a coward he is for abusing a small child. Hopefully, the department of corrections will put him in general population so he can be treated the way he deserves to be treated. |
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Look up. |
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The punishment has to fit the crime. Otherwise, you would have no problem with any of the following: A woman jaywalks and gets cited. She goes to jail for 44 years. A man is pulled over for speeding. Life in prison. An 18 year old college student steals a video game from Best Buy. Death penalty. If they didn't want the punishment, they should have just followed the law. It really is that simple. |
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