Early mandatory sentences
Mandatory sentences are as old as civilization. Biblical law - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth - is mandatory, and envisions "neither mercy nor mitigation of punishment."1 Mandatory punishments are also enshrined in earliest Anglo-Saxon law. King Alfred, who reigned in England around 900 A.D., prescribed mandatory fines for every conceivable injury, including:
if a wound an inch long is made under the hair, one shilling shall be paid ... - if an ear is cut off, 30 shillings shall be paid ...
if one knocks out another's eye, he shall pay 66 shillings, 6 1/3 pence ... if the eye is still in the head, but the injured man can see nothing with it, one-third of the payment shall be withheld ...2
The concept is simple: if you commit a crime, a mandatory sentence will be exacted for your offense. And, depending on the time in which you live and the mandatory sentences that are in effect, the sentence could be a fine, imprisonment, loss of limb - or death.
American punishment
The American concept of prison and punishment began when the Quakers built the country's first prison at the end of the 18th century. They viewed incarceration of lawbreakers as a humane alternative to the two options used at the time - corporal and capital punishment. Through work, Bible study and penitence, offenders in prison would be rehabilitated and returned to society. Mandatory minimum sentences also date back to the first days of the nation. In 1790, mandatory sentences were enacted for crimes including murder, piracy, refusing to testify before Congress, failure to report seaboard saloon purchases, or causing a ship to run aground by use of a false light.3 Then, as today, most mandatory minimum sentences were the rapid and visible response to public outcries following well-publicized crimes.