editorial comment Simplistic legal solution to complex issues don't work. Is it that hard to understand? Then again, when Bush's main liner is :"You can run but you can't hide".....

In the game of Monopoly there is a space on the board that says "Go directly to jail."

There is something very similar to this in the game of life, mandatory minimum sentences. Get busted trafficking drugs, go directly to jail. No complaints or possibility for parole.

In 1986 Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the law that created mandatory minimum sentences for first-time drug offenders and based the duration of sentences off the amount of drug found.

Carry five grams of crack cocaine and you would get five years in jail. It doesn't matter if it's your first criminal offense ever you still get the same penalty.

The law was passed in 1986 at the peak of the crack epidemic in America and was seen as the quick tough way to put dealers behind bars. The idea was that if dealers realize that law enforcement meant business that it would scare them into quitting and go legit.

Despite these harsh penalties the United States still leads the world in the number of people incarcerated and over half of all federal inmates convicted of drug crimes according to a report by Human Rights Watch in 2003. Of the drug crime inmates 58 percent have no violent history or drug dealing in mass amounts.

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws limit judicial discretion by providing a one-size-fits-all for all guilty offenders. When there is a special case involving trafficking the judge can't use his power to change the penalty to fit the crime. Case after case people with no criminal history are being sent to ridiculous amounts of jail time even if the courts think otherwise.

The only two ways to avoid these mandatory minimums is to provide "substantial assistance" to the government and turn in other defendants. Second, some defendants qualify for the "safety valve" that Congress passed in 1994 to address excessive sentences served by non-violent drug offenders.

If the judge finds the defendant is a low-level, non-violent, first-time offender who qualifies for the safety valve, the defendant could end up with a lesser sentence

This may be a step towards repeal of the law entirely but still many non-violent first time offenders are still sent to jail because the requirements for the exception are extremely narrow.

So where is the public outcry? Why isn't this an issue in this election?

Most of those convicted by mandatory sentences are between the ages of 18 and 25 and that is in fact the weakest voting demographic. The stances of the candidates on this issue are in fact different.

President Bush is in favor of keeping the mandatory minimums and believes they are an effective way to control drug crimes. Despite the law's flaws it had reduced the amount of illegal substances on the streets. Sen. John Kerry believes that the judges deserve full discretion in sentencing rather than letting lawmakers set the sentences. Kerry says the system today is wasteful in tax dollars and human lives.

Why isn't Kerry making this an issue in this election? "No lawmaker wants to be seen as soft on drugs," said Monica Pratt, spokesperson for Families Against Mandatory Minimums. "It prevents lawmakers from making good choices when it comes to good drug policy."

The actual system itself that measures and determines the penalties is very unjust.

It takes 100 kilos (2.2 pounds) of marijuana or 500 grams of cocaine for the five-year term, but only five grams of crack. This is because of the fear of crime caused by crack in the 80's.

It also a fact that 85 percent of crack offenders in 2000 were black a number much higher than the number of black cocaine or marijuana offenders.

The fact remains that mandatory minimums are stripping judges of the power they were given in the constitution and young black Americans are being hit hardest. Drug trafficking is a crime and should be punished but the laws need revising. For more information on the subject visit http://www.famm.org and read some of the profiles of injustice to make up your own mind.

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