60 minutes. More than they deserve?

Description

In the wake of the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, Congress passed harsh sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimum sentencing laws, even for the smallest offense. As a result of those laws, the Federal prison population has quadrupled since 1987, costing taxpayers four billion dollars a year. Now objections are being voiced by Federal judges over the severity of the laws in light of the fact that many people shouldn't be in prison at all and others are serving sentences much to harsh for the crime. Ed Bradley reports.

Runtime

13 min

Series

Subjects

Geography

Genre

Date of Publication

2003

Database

Alexander Street

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