Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jul 2000
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html
Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/
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MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES

Unjust, Overly Harsh Sentencing Law Should Be Repealed.

Amy Pofahl walked out of prison last week after spending nine years of a 
24-year drug conspiracy sentence behind bars. Pofahl served that time while 
her husband -- a Stanford law school graduate and wealthy businessman who 
was convicted along with her but cooperated with prosecutors -- was given 
three years probation. He also served a three-year sentence in Germany, 
where he was originally arrested.

Amy Pofahl is a textbook example of the idiocy and injustice of federal 
mandatory minimum-sentencing laws that allow prosecutors to offer deals to 
higher-ups in a drug ring who, because of their own complicity, have the 
knowledge about principals in the drug operation.

Meanwhile, lesser involved individuals who have nothing to deal away are 
hit with long mandatory sentences for what sometimes amount to minor 
transgressions.

Pofahl was one of four women granted clemency by President Clinton last 
week. The four are similar in that they all had drug-dealing boyfriends and 
husbands who were much more seriously involved in the drug conspiracy at 
the heart of the cases but were able to escape harsh mandatory minimum 
sentencing by cutting deals with prosecutors. One man was also released 
along with the women.

Explaining the clemencies, a Clinton spokesman said that, "The president 
felt that they had served a disproportionate amount of time a and had 
received much more severe sentences than their husbands or boyfriends."

That explanation isn't good enough. Clinton, who has granted fewer 
clemencies than any of his recent predecessors, has given no indication 
that he's prepared to show mercy to hundreds of thousands of other 
nonviolent drug offenders sentenced under Draconian mandatory minimum 
sentencing laws approved by Congress in the early 1980s.

Although they've not received the publicity of the four women released, 
many of those still imprisoned are serving equally disproportionate 
sentences for minor crimes. That's wrong.

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws should be repealed. Anyone serving time 
under such laws ought to have their sentences reviewed and, where 
appropriate, revised. Unjust, overly harsh punishment undermines justice 
and respect for the law.
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