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Article: Liacos: Mandatory sentences failing
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- October 19, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The war on drugs is being lost, in part because of an irrational
system of mandatory-minimum sentences that aims its harshest
penalties at small-time offenders, the state's chief judge told a
legislative panel yesterday.
"After two decades of massive expenditures by state and federal
law enforcement and prison systems to enforce these and similar
statutes, violent crime and substance abuse are still a critical
social problem," said Paul J. Liacos, chief justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court.
Liacos made his comments before a panel considering revising or
discarding the state's mandatory-minimum drug-sentencing laws. The
laws have been criticized by those who say they punish street-level ...