The idea behind mandatory sentencing was to encourage prosecution of high-level drug traffickers (Sterling 2). However, under its laws, it doesn’t take a whole lot of drugs to get some major time. For example, a drug offender could get 5 years in prison (without parole) for as little as five grams of crack cocaine, which is only worth a couple of hundred dollars and is only about 25 hits (depending on purity) (Sterling 2). The result is the arrest of a lot of small time dealers and not enough big ones. In 1995 only 11% of federal drug trafficking defenders were considered major-traffickers. More than half were low-level offenders (Sterli

ng 2). The federal government recognized this and, in an effort to get the small time dealers to give up their big time connections, a “loophole” was created. A more lenient sentence could be granted if the offender has given “substantial assistance” to the government for the prosecution of another drug offender, preferably a major trafficker (Sterling 3). Since some petty drug peddlers don’t know the root supplier they often give up other small handlers and exaggerate their involvement. The result is other low-level traffickers can become victims of lies by codefendants that have figured out how to cut a deal and manipulate the sentencing laws to their advantage (Sterling 5). The little guys, in turn, still get very long sentences and the true big guys don’t get caught at all.

Mandatory sentencing laws have done little to reduce drug trafficking. The number of drug cases from 1986 to 1998 increased by 450% (Sterling 4). About 65% of drug offenders arrested in 1994 were rearrested within three years, up from about 50% in 1983 (Langan and Levin 1). This could partially be attributed to the conspiracy law, which intended to make anyone who was a member of a drug trafficking conspiracy liable for every act of the conspiracy. This means that if a defendant is simply the doorman at a crack house, he is liable for all the crack ever sold from that crack house and all that is ever sold by the organization that runs the crack house

Some topics in this essay:
, York City, Langan Levin, Shein Joseph, mandatory sentencing, powder cocaine, sterling 2, drug trafficking, federal court, crack house, sarver 3, crack cocaine, sentencing laws, low-level offenders, mandatory sentencing laws,