Defendants are regularly condemned to years, decades, or life in prison for minor infractions because of minimum sentencing statutes. If judges had more discretion in sentencing, then sentences could be more proportional to the crime, more specific to the individual defendant, and minimize the negative impact of minimum sentencing laws without inherently needing those laws repealed.
"The judge who sentenced Turner, T.S. Ellis III, called the punishment 'excessive' and 'wrong' at a June sentencing hearing. If he can’t change the sentence, 'why do we have a judge?' St. Louis asked. 'Let’s put that in his hands . . . but instead you heard the judge say his hands are tied, and that doesn’t seem right to me'."
Washington Post
July 26, 2018
Read More"Until this most recent law was signed, judges were required to release people charged with many misdemeanors without cash bail. But that lack of judicial discretion raised concerns for police, prosecutors and, ultimately, the Legislature. It passed a new law, which Governor Bill Walker signed June 14 that said judges again can decide whether to require cash bail."
Alaska Public Media
July 4, 2018
Read More"The study found that Republican-appointed judges sentence black defendants three months longer than they do for non-blacks, and female defendants two months less than males, who committed similar offenses, compared to Democratic-appointed judges."
The Crime Report
May 31, 2018
Read More"A New York City man walked free for the first time in decades after a federal judge ruled he'd done enough time for his crimes. By Thursday, Alexander Landor had served 25 years in state prison for an attempted murder conviction — and Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson refused to mete out more jail time for the 'rehabilitated' man."
New York Daily News
May 24, 2018
Read More"SB 1393, also known as the Fair and Just Sentencing Reform Act, reinstates judicial discretion in applying five-year sentence enhancements for prior serious felonies to cases involving a defendant charged with a serious felony."
Park Labrea News
May 24, 2018
Read More"The California Senate today approved another moderate reform rooted in evidence-based policy and sensible cost-effective approaches to criminal justice. Specifically, Senate Bill 1393, the Fair and Just Sentencing Reform Act, would eliminate automatic penalties that have contributed to the state’s mass incarceration crisis and failed ‘tough on crime’ policies by returning discretion in sentencing of serious felonies to judges."
California State Senate
May 14, 2018
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