News (Media Awareness Project) - US FL: PUB LTE: `Unbalanced' System |
| Title: | US FL: PUB LTE: `Unbalanced' System |
| Published On: | 2005-03-13 |
| Source: | Tampa Tribune (FL) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-16 20:55:44 |
'UNBALANCED' SYSTEM
Regarding "A Christian Perspective On Sami Al-Arian" by Kendra Gayle Lee
(Other Views, March 3):
The maltreatment of Sami Al-Arian as he sits in prison awaiting trial is a
symptom of an unbalanced federal criminal justice system .
The imbalance is the unintended consequence of legislation enacted in the
mid-1980s to narrow the variation in sentences from judge to judge and
district to district for similar crimes. But it didn't do that. Instead it
shifted sentencing discretion from the judge to the prosecutor, whose
charges virtually preordain the sentence.
JOHN CHASE
Palm Harbor
Regarding "A Christian Perspective On Sami Al-Arian" by Kendra Gayle Lee
(Other Views, March 3):
The maltreatment of Sami Al-Arian as he sits in prison awaiting trial is a
symptom of an unbalanced federal criminal justice system .
The imbalance is the unintended consequence of legislation enacted in the
mid-1980s to narrow the variation in sentences from judge to judge and
district to district for similar crimes. But it didn't do that. Instead it
shifted sentencing discretion from the judge to the prosecutor, whose
charges virtually preordain the sentence.
JOHN CHASE
Palm Harbor
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