Sentences with phrase «draconian sentences»

The omnibus crime bill imposed arbitrary and draconian sentences....

«It's easier to be harsh when you don't see a face, a life and a family that has been so terribly affected by these draconian sentences like mine have been.»

By compromising, and reducing a somewhat draconian sentence (possibly less effective for general deterrence), or increasing the sentence (possibly less effective for rehabilitation), the sentence may risk frustrating either goal.

Not exact matches

«Crime in the streets» was Nixonian code for keeping white people safe from poor minorities, just as «crack babies» justified draconian prison sentences for inner - city cocaine users 20 years later (their white suburban counterparts went to rehab).

On the other hand, re-education through labour (RETL)(laojiao (劳教)-RRB-, a draconian detention programme, has long been a focal point for critics of China's human rights record, whereby China's police can sentence an individual to three years (with a possible 4th year extension) in a labour camp without a trial

Equally dramatic was action Paterson took in overhauling the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws that for 35 years had deprived judges of sentencing discretion and doomed tens of thousands of low - level drug offenders to long prison sentences.

I think imposing a guideline sentence would be draconian... given this defendant's age.»

(The longest one the government cited was the 14 years behind bars given to former Democratic assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr.) Sentencing guidelines recommended a term of roughly between 22 and 27 years, but Judge Valerie Caproni said a sentence in that range would be «draconian and unjust» given 71 - year - old Silver's age.

Judge Valerie Caproni described a term of around 22 to 27 years, per sentencing guidelines, as «draconian and unjust» given Silver's age, according to the New York Times.

«Would this administration use a declaration of a national emergency to further an agenda that places at its center health - based solutions, or would it then turn around and say, we have an emergency, we need draconian legislation like sentencing laws, or crackdowns on people who use or misuse opioids?»

In addition to draconian new sentencing provisions tucked into the Omnibus crime bill for small grow - ops, in Ontario I have noticed a very significant uptick in the number of individuals being charged for simple possession of tiny amounts of pot.

As draconian as these sentences are, if there's a reasonable argument to get to them, why not take it?

Federal defense attorneys must be adept at dealing with not only the federal sentencing guidelines; but also the numerous, draconian mandatory minimum sentencing statutes which distort and destroy the common law principal that «the punishment should fit the crime.»

In August 2013, US Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences were «draconian» and that too many Americans had been imprisoned for too long for no good law enforcement justification.

To judges and others who long battled strict federal sentencing rules for crack cocaine offenders — considered draconian and racist by longtime opponents — Monday's Supreme Court decision brought vindication.