Marcus Dixon and mandatory minimum sentences
It happened over a month ago, but somehow I didn't hear about it until today when my mother was watching Oprah: Marcus Dixon has been released from prison.
The Marcus Dixon story in a nutshell: promising young black kid from Rome, GA, accepts a football scholarship to Vanderbilt over many other better athletic schools because he "wants to get an education." Sleeps with 15-year-old girl. She says it was rape. He says it wasn't. Jury agrees with him. But (oh horror) she's 15, he's 18, so he's guilty of aggravated child molestation. Mandatory minimum sentence: 10 years.
And now, after a year in prison, he's been commuted to time served and released. Well, thank goodness the kid's entire life wasn't ruined. To get to the point: mandatory minimum sentences (along with three-strikes laws) are a threat to justice.
Marcus Dixon didn't deserve 10 years. It was consensual sex! The judge thought it was ridiculous, and the jury thought it was ridiculous, but the minimum specified by the law forced them to enact a punishment that was far from fitting the crime. What the hell do we have judges for, if they can't decide a prison sentence on a case by case basis?
Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Wow, it's nice to just vent sometimes. Jeff had a good idea. Of course, his writings are far more thought-out and researched than mine. I guess I just have this need to just pound away at a keyboard for five minutes and be done.
BTW, Cozumel was awesome. We scuba dived every day and saw some crazy reefs. I recommend it to anyone who likes diving, or who just wants to lay in the sun all day and drink great margaritas and eat nachos.
Song lyric of the day:
"All research and successful drug policy shows
That treatment should be increased, argh!
And law enforcement decreased
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences"
-System of a Down, "Prison Song"
The Marcus Dixon story in a nutshell: promising young black kid from Rome, GA, accepts a football scholarship to Vanderbilt over many other better athletic schools because he "wants to get an education." Sleeps with 15-year-old girl. She says it was rape. He says it wasn't. Jury agrees with him. But (oh horror) she's 15, he's 18, so he's guilty of aggravated child molestation. Mandatory minimum sentence: 10 years.
And now, after a year in prison, he's been commuted to time served and released. Well, thank goodness the kid's entire life wasn't ruined. To get to the point: mandatory minimum sentences (along with three-strikes laws) are a threat to justice.
Marcus Dixon didn't deserve 10 years. It was consensual sex! The judge thought it was ridiculous, and the jury thought it was ridiculous, but the minimum specified by the law forced them to enact a punishment that was far from fitting the crime. What the hell do we have judges for, if they can't decide a prison sentence on a case by case basis?
Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Wow, it's nice to just vent sometimes. Jeff had a good idea. Of course, his writings are far more thought-out and researched than mine. I guess I just have this need to just pound away at a keyboard for five minutes and be done.
BTW, Cozumel was awesome. We scuba dived every day and saw some crazy reefs. I recommend it to anyone who likes diving, or who just wants to lay in the sun all day and drink great margaritas and eat nachos.
Song lyric of the day:
"All research and successful drug policy shows
That treatment should be increased, argh!
And law enforcement decreased
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences"
-System of a Down, "Prison Song"
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