Justice Kennedy: Two Million in Jail is Too Many
By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Wed Apr 09, 2003 at 11:04:36 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Posted on Wed Apr 09, 2003 at 11:04:36 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative, on Wednesday criticized our nation's harsh criminal sentences and said two million people in jail is too many.
He criticized the proliferation of "mandatory minimum" sentences, which can mean long prison terms for relatively minor or nonviolent crimes. "In many cases, our sentences are too long," Kennedy said. Justice Clarence Thomas nodded in apparent agreement. He made his comments after the two justices had asked the House Appropriations Committee for $73.4 million for salaries, upkeep and other court expenses for the 12 months that begin in October.But Kennedy and Thomas last month both voted to uphold three-strikes laws. And Congress Thursday is poised to pass the Amber Alert bill, that now contains provisions which will drastically reduce judicial discretion in sentencing and in particular, in downward departures, which will result in the imposition of many more mandatory minimum sentences. Someone ought to stop this runaway train.
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