2000: another look at mandatory sentencing
In 1999, Rep. Maxine Waters introduced a bill to repeal mandatory drug sentences (H.R. 1681). It was the first such bill offered since 1993. Then on May 11, 2000, Congress held its second hearing in two decades on mandatory sentencing. Tom Kane, assistant director of the Bureau of Prisons, testified about the extraordinary growth in the federal prison population since 1984 attributable to determinate sentencing, the abolition of parole, reduced good time, and mandatory sentences for drug and weapon offenses. He reported that the federal prison population doubled in the 1980s, from 24,000 to 58,000 and again in the 1990s, and was expected to exceed 205,000 by 2007. John Steer, vice chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, explained how mandatory minimum sentences prevent judges from applying the sentencing guidelines, which is a more comprehensive sentencing system that allows judges to consider many factors. FAMM member Frances Rosemeyer added a personal touch to the hearing as she told of the incarceration of her daughter, Kellie Mann. 27
Racial effects of mandatory sentencing
Commissioner John Steer's congressional testimony also highlighted another problem of mandatory sentencing laws: the disproportionate effect of mandatory sentencing laws upon people of color. 28 Two other reports in 2000, each recommending repeal of mandatory drug sentencing, weighed in on the disparities. Unequal treatment of minorities characterizes every stage of the criminal justice process and sends a disproportionate number of minorities to jail and prison, concluded the study by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. 29 The other study, by Human Rights Watch, was equally damning: "The racially disproportionate nature of the war on drugs is not just devastating to Black Americans. It contradicts faith in the principles of justice and equal protection of the laws that should be the bedrock of any constitutional democracy; it exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that continue to weaken the country and belies its promise as a land of equal opportunity; and it undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system." 30
Prison population hits record
Another study, by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), estimated that the American prison population would reach two million in 2000. Compiled from government records, the report showed how new laws, particularly mandatory minimums, increased incarceration rates. It also predicted that the cost of housing inmates would soon be more than $40 billion a year. 31