mandatory minimums
Required minimum sentences
Mandatory minimums are legally required minimum sentences for specific crimes, removing judicial discretion.
A judge must impose at least the prescribed term regardless of circumstances: Mandatory minimums for drug offenses have swelled prison populations.
Critics argue they produce unjust outcomes; supporters say they ensure consistency.
The term appears almost exclusively in criminal justice debates.
- incarceration ratesMeasure of imprisoned population
- racial biasPrejudice based on ethnicity
- mass incarcerationExcessive imprisonment at scale
- statutory lawLegislature-made legal rules
- recidivismHabitual return to crime
penal code · three strikes · life without parole · tough on crime · crack cocaine · prison-industrial complex · rehabilitation programs · prison reform · criminal statutes · legal precedent · plea bargaining · time served · prison overcrowding · community advocacy · government oversight · election campaigns · political activism · judicial appointments
- criminal justicearrest, jail, court, prison, crime
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
- discriminationracism, systemic discrimination, Jim Crow laws, sexism, racial harassment
- penologypenology, prisons, incarceration, parole board, prison
- drug lawscontrolled substances, drug scheduling, drug classification, Schedule II, Schedule IV
- drug policynarcotics, drug reform, drug enforcement, drug policy, decriminalization
mandatory minimumsjudicial discretion
Judge's decision-making freedom
judge's discretion · parole eligibility · sentencing guidelines
mandatory minimumsrestorative justice
Conflict resolution through mutual healing
decriminalization · leniency · clemency · community service · probation
mandatory, minimum, mandate, mandated, mandating, mandates, mandatorily, minimal, minimally