Federal Judges Surveyed Dislike Mandatory Minimums for Pot, Crack, Child Porn
A majority of federal judges surveyed agree with sentencing guidelines ranges for most federal crimes, but they take exception with mandatory minimums.
Sixty-two percent of the judges surveyed said mandatory minimums are too high, the National Law Journal reports. Asked about specific crimes, 76 percent said minimums were too high for crack cocaine, 71 percent said they were too high for receipt of child pornography, and 54 percent for marijuana.
Most judges, however, said the minimums were appropriate for production and distribution of child pornography.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission sent the survey (PDF) to 942 judges and received responses form 639 of them.
On other issues:
• 75 percent of the judges said they preferred the current system of advisory guidelines over systems of mandatory guidelines and no guidelines.
• 53 percent disagreed that judge-specific sentencing data should be reported “as a means to promote transparency in sentencing.”
• 79 percent agreed that generally the interests of crime victims are adequately protected under current sentencing guidelines.
