Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes: An Overview of Legislation in the 106th Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Jan. 11, 2001 |
| Report Number |
RS20307 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Charles Doyle, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Federal mandatory minimum sentencing statutes (mandatory minimums) demand that execution
or
incarceration follow criminal conviction. They cover drug dealing, murdering federal officials, and
using a gun to commit a federal crime. They circumscribe judicial sentencing discretion. They have
been criticized as unthinkingly harsh and incompatible with a rational sentencing guideline system;
yet they have also been embraced as hallmarks of truth in sentence and a certain means of
incapacitating the criminally dangerous. Among the bills introduced in the 106th Congress, some
would have created new mandatory minimums, several would have enlarged existing mandatory
minimums, others would have eliminated existing mandatory minimums, and some would have
adjusted existing mandatory minimums in other ways. The only proposed mandatory minimum
enacted came in the form of a piggyback statute which extended, to overseas misconduct by military
dependents and contractors, the pre-existing mandatory minimums applicable in the special maritime
and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, 18 U.S.C. 3261.
