Pubdate: Fri, 27 Aug 2004
Source: Pacific Daily News (US GU)
Copyright: 2004 Pacific Daily News
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1122
Author: John Chase
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1124/a09.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

MANDATORY MINIMUMS DIDN'T CAUSE CRIME DROP

Leonardo Rapadas' Aug. 7 opinion piece, "Mandatory minimum sentences keep 
streets safe," has no scientific basis. Richard Rosenfeld, writing in the 
Feb. 2004 Scientific American, says that tough sentencing is only one of 
many contributing causes, and that mandatory minimum sentences may actually 
do more harm than good in the long run because they "deplete the social 
capital of those communities hardest hit by both crime and imprisonment."

His article is "The case of the unsolved crime decline." He agrees that 
serious violent and property crime rates tumbled by more than 40 percent in 
the 1990s, but he does not assign credit to one cause. Serious examination 
requires that the data be broken out by city size, year of crime, policing 
practices, sentencing policy and race/age/gender of perpetrator and victim, 
etc.

Possible explanations for reduced youth crime appears to be the shrinking 
demand for crack in the 1990s, as addicts either quit or died and young 
users opted for marijuana. The best single explanation for reduced adult 
crime appears to be the expansion of domestic violence resources, such hot 
lines, shelters and judicial protection orders.

The crime reduction seen as the 1990s unrolled probably had several 
overlapping causes, but is unlikely that mandatory sentencing was one of them.

Rosenfeld is professor in and chair of the department of criminology and 
criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

John Chase

Palm Harbor, Fla. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake