Mandatory Minimums Pros And Cons

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America has the highest prison population in the world and it’s not getting any smaller. When released from prison, 77% of parolees are arrested again within 5 years and return to prison; furthermore, between 70 million and 100 million--or as many as one in three Americans--have some type of criminal record. We spend $212 billion dollars annually to apprehend, try, and incarcerate prisoners. Research shows that educating these prisoners can reduce their return rate. We also need to be more flexible on sentencing laws, no more mandatory minimums for drug offences, because treatment instead of jail will help also. Some people will say that we should not be spending any more money on people because they broke the law and that it would be too expensive.