Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues The Legal Forum Let's check in on the cattle abusers, deadbeat grazers, wildlife squatter Bundys

I believe the mandatory minimum sentence law came from Conservatives wishing to be really strict with either the ELF folks, or the PETA folks back in the 1980's. There was a mindset then about making sure certain illegal actions got sufficient punishment to satisfy the politicians that retribution was achieved. Pot possession also was a target for mandatory minimums overruling the courts' discretion.

Both ELF and PETA were being popularly labeled as domestic terrorist groups at the time.

The Guidelines are the product of the United States Sentencing Commission, which was created by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.[3] The Guidelines' primary goal was to alleviate sentencing disparities that research had indicated were prevalent in the existing sentencing system, and the guidelines reform was specifically intended to provide for determinate sentencing. This refers to sentencing whose actual limits are determined at the time the sentence is imposed, as opposed to indeterminate sentencing, in which a sentence with a maximum (and, perhaps, a minimum) is pronounced but the actual amount of time served in prison is determined by a parole commission or similar administrative body after the person has started serving his or her sentence. As part of the guidelines reform in 1984, parole on federal level was abolished.