cannabisnews.com: Even with Changes in Drug Lifer Law!





Even with Changes in Drug Lifer Law!
Posted by FoM on March 05, 1999 at 11:55:53 PT
few eligible for parole!
In 1998, state legislators amended the law to allow for parole after 20 years, or even 15 years if the inmate meets certain criteria, including cooperating with police and having no other serious convictions. 
Michigan prisons hold about 200 inmates sentenced under the state's lifer law for drug offenses. JeDonna Young was the first inmate paroled since the change. About a half-dozen inmates sentenced under the law are eligible for parole this year, said Matt Davis, a state prison spokesman. Of those held under the lifer law, 44.6 percent are first-time offenders and 86 percent had no prior prison record, says Laura Sager, director of the Michigan project of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which lobbied to change the law. Supporters of a lifer law believe it is justified because of the ripple effects of drugs dealing and associated violence. But Ms. Sager believes the changes signal a growing realization the law's harshness was out of proportion. "Judges should have the ability to determine individual sentences," distinguishing between a first-time offender and a drug kingpin, she says. http://www.cnn.com/
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Comment #1 posted by Angela on September 15, 1999 at 12:11:02 PT:
Drug Lifer Law
Someone please tell me when we started sentencing drug dealers to do more time in prison than murderers? How easily we will give a murderer probation or a reduced sentence. What's wrong with our country? Stop wasting tax payer money!
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