My first Magazine Final Draft Multimodal Project 4 | Seite 5

Minimum mandatory sentences have existed in the United States since the late 18th cen-
tury as a means of ensuring uniformity in punishment. Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1798
that stipulated “opposing or impeding a federal officer by means of insurrection, riot, or unlawful
assembly… carried a mandatory minimum penalty of at least six months of imprisonment” (uss-
c.gov). Such penalties were also constructed to deter the importation of slaves during the same
era. The 1807 Act decreed it unlawful to bring slaves into the United States or work on a ship
that transported slaves; carrying “mandatory minimum penalties of at least five years and two
years of imprisonment, respectively” (ussc.gov). When the Civil War gripped America, disgrun-
tled legislators targeted Confederates by enacting a mandatory minimum sentence of six months
for anyone conspiring to “overthrow the Government of the United States” (ussc.gov). During
the next century, additional crimes were added to those that carried minimum sentences. As the
20th century passed its half-way point, narcotics became a growing concern and mandatory min-
imums quickly followed. The Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of 1951 introduced manda-
tory sentences of “five and 10 years of imprisonment for second and third violations” (ussc.gov).
In 1956, a new mandatory minimum of ten years was established for selling heroin to a juvenile
and a new five year sentence was enacted for anyone “possessing narcotics on a vessel” (ussc.-
gov). Mandatory minimums sentences were spiraling out of control. The American public voiced
their objection to unfair sentencing and legislators reacted by enacting the Comprehensive Drug
Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (ussc.gov), thereby restoring more autonomy to
judges in sentencing.