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70 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1717 (1996-1997)
Indeterminate Sentencing: An Analysis of Sentencing in America

handle is hein.journals/scal70 and id is 1733 raw text is: NOTES INDETERMINATE SENTENCING: AN ANALYSIS OF SENTENCING IN AMERICA CHRISTOPHER M. ALEXANDER* I. INTRODUCTION Sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum sentences, and three- strikes-and-you're-out laws were enacted to provide tough, uniform, fair, and economically efficient punishment for criminals in America regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or class. Such determinate sentencing laws gained support from both liberal and conservative lawmakers. Though these facially neutral and generally applicable laws have brought about some beneficial effects, they have adversely affected minority communi- ties, women, and the poor. Lawmakers are aware of this disparate impact, but have chosen not to act to eliminate the disparities.' Ironically, it is this * Law clerk for the Honorable Richard A. Enslen, U.S. District Court Chief Judge, Western District of Michigan, 1997-1998. Class of 1997, University of Southern California Law School; B.A., 1994, University of California, Riverside. I would like to dedicate this Article to my family, girl- friend, and friends in appreciation for their years of love, support, and sacrifice-thank you. Also, I would like to thank the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Jr., the Honorable Richard J. Enslen, the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima, Professor Denise Meyer, and Professor Thomas Griffith for their helpful com- ments. Finally, I would like to thank the staff and editors of the Southern California Law Review, particularly Tim Connors, James Rutten, and Ray Zado for their valuable editing assistance. 1. See, e.g., David G. Savage, Bias Issue in LA. Drug Cases Goes to Supreme Court, L.A. TIMES, Feb. 26, 1996, at Al (noting that the Clinton administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are trying both to block any changes in crack cocaine prosecutions and maintain the 100-to- I disparity between crack and powder trafficking sentences in federal court). See also MICHAEL TONRY, MALIGN NEGLECT-RACE, CRIME, AND PUNISHMENTS IN AMERICA 179-80 (1995) [hereinafter MALIGN NEGLECT] (discussing how no powerful constituency will be affronted by increasing sen- tences, and that the general public understandably fears crime and resents criminals). 1717

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