Tim Scott: “Mr. Speaker, although this sounds good and makes for a good slogan, this is not good policy. First, this bill goes down…”

“Mr. Speaker, although this sounds good and makes for a good slogan, this is not good policy. First, this bill goes down the failed road of mandatory minimum sentencing. We have heard anecdotes from proponents of the bill suggesting that Project Exile, like the Shadow, strikes fear in the hearts of evil men. However, we have not been presented with any convincing evidence that mandatory minimums and Project Exile have reduced violent crime to any greater extent than the decrease in Virginia generally without Project Exile. This fearful shadow, therefore, is just merely a shadow. Mr. Speaker, mandatory minimums are bad policy for a number of reasons. In the March 17, 2000, letter to the Committee on the Judiciary, the Judiciary Conference of the United States reiterated its opposition to mandatory minimum sentences for the 12th time, noting that the mandatory minimum sentences undermine the sentencing guidelines established by Congress to promote fairness and proportionality, and that far from fostering certainty in punishment, mandatory minimums result in unwarranted sentencing disparity because they require the sentencing court to impose the sentence on offenders, when sound policy and common sense called for different punishments.”