University Archives

Throughout this paper, I hope to lay out the history of federal drug crimes and their sentencing standards, and more specifically, the history and purpose of mandatory minimums. Included in this foundation will be the recent changes brought to mandatory minimums and their sentencing guidelines. Next, I look to explain the most common criticisms of mandatory minimums, from both a social aspect and practical standpoint. After establishing this, I hope to provide a general foundation of utilitarianism, and its roots within the American criminal justice system. After establishing its importance and dominance as the leading theory of punishment, I hope to readdress the many issues criticisms of mandatory minimums and dispel each one through the lens of utilitarianism. In doing so, I hope to propose a different understanding of mandatory minimums, their place in our justice system, and how to better utilize them so they can accomplish what they were intended to do since their inception.