Tragic. Guess who is in large measure responsible for mandatory minimums?
"As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden was responsible for the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines passed in 1986. “The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 had forced judges to harshly sentence within a narrow range,” Zeese recounts. “So Biden knew in ’86 that mandatory sentences were not needed… But he pushed for and passed mandatory sentencing anyway, because that’s what the narcs and prosecutors wanted. He held hearings at which they got opportunity to testify while opponents of mandatory minimums were kept out.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/09/06/joe-biden-drug-warrior/
"As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden was responsible for the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines passed in 1986. “The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 had forced judges to harshly sentence within a narrow range,” Zeese recounts. “So Biden knew in ’86 that mandatory sentences were not needed… But he pushed for and passed mandatory sentencing anyway, because that’s what the narcs and prosecutors wanted. He held hearings at which they got opportunity to testify while opponents of mandatory minimums were kept out.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/09/06/joe-biden-drug-warrior/