Also, most of the truly violent inmates are in state prisons anyway, since murder and battery are state-level crimes. The law would just give judges more discretion to deviate from mandatory sentences, but wouldn’t make it a very easy process either.
To give one example — there was a guy who was convicted of dealing in large quantities of marijuana. He was (legally) armed when arrested, but possession of a weapon enhanced his sentence to 30+ years. He never used or threatened to use his gun on anyone, but being armed when dealing with large quantities of valuable substances and cash isn’t surprising. Did he deserve 30 years? My vote is no.
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