Law School Dean: Mandatory Sentences Are About Math, Not People
July 20, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
University of Baltimore School of Law Dean Ronald Weich is quoted in The Washington Post in its coverage of reforms of mandatory-minimum sentences.
The article is the third in a series by the newspaper, called "Unwinding the Drug War."
Weich, who served as a special counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in the late 1980s, told the Post that mandatory-minimum sentences were about math, not about people.
"These laws forced judges to look at their calculators instead of into the eyes of the defendants they were sentencing," he said. "They weren't allowed to ask, 'How did they get to this point in their lives?' and 'Who were they going to be in five or 20 years?'"
Read the article.
Learn more about Dean Weich.