PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: …Given the hefty annual cost of housing inmates – about $32,000 per person – some experts believe that the state should revisit sentencing guidelines to give judges discretion when meting out punishment to those convicted of taking part in murders.
Others say that the concerns of victims’ families should take precedence over those of people who have been convicted and sentenced to die behind bars…
The Pennsylvania Prison Society, a nonprofit prisoner-advocacy organization, has long called for changing the law to give some long-serving lifers a second chance at freedom, said executive director Ann Schwartzman.… (more)
EDITOR: We have judges but then we don’t allow them to judge. Instead the legislature imposes mandatory minimum sentencing.
According to former President Judge Edward Becker of the Federal Second District who represented all federal judges other than the surpreme court in dealing with the Bush Administration, the federal judges had proposed flexible sentencing on several occasions but continued to be rebuffed.
If we simply provided guidelines but allowed discretion, we would show confidence in our jurists and provide them with tools other than a hammer.
