Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentenci.docx

Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison
Sentencing 1
Ethical behavior is critical when it comes to how society
portrays one in terms of
moral principles and ethics in a given situation. In general,
ethical conduct is the practice of
doing the right things by observing and adhering to professional
standards. In most countries,
the prison populations are on the rising end as most
governments try to avoid the pressure in
budgeting for the jails. The United States employs a sentencing
structure whereby
individuals are required to cover 85% of their sentences given
by the federal court (Bedau
2014). This paper focuses on how ethical behaviors can impact
mandatory minimum prison
sentencing standards.
Ethical concerns to be addressed
The laws of mandatory minimum sentencing are the law that
allows handing the

minimum prison sentence for crimes such as possession of
drugs. These laws are fixed and
made by Congress, as judges cannot tamper with the laws (Oliss
2014). Critics have come
out to say these laws are oppressive and do not apply in the
present-day environment.
One of the ethical concerns of the mandatory minimum
sentencing laws needing to be
addressed is the unfairness in passing out judgment. In a
particular scenario whereby the
judge does not have the capacity to amend the law during the
trial, someone who was neither
directly involved in drug conspiracy, nor a significant concern
in the case, will end up
suffering the same sentence that is passed onto the main
suspect. This makes it difficult for
the individual, who is rarely involved in being heard, in a
different scenario as the law tends
to punish them both harshly. The main disparity is this law
tends to focus more on drug lords
and the fight against crime as compared to other offenses that
are committed (Martin 2017).
The second ethical concern is these laws do not allow room for
plea bargains. Since

Congress makes the law, it is hard for the prosecutor who might
have wanted to lower the
sentence for a plea. The capacity they are in does not allow
them to do so, thus making it
hard for the person who was “less guilty” to serve a fewer
number of years in prison as the
Sentencing 2
law forces the whole lot involved in the same act to serve the
same amount of years. Critics
feel this law has less of an impact and deem them as an
inappropriate way of ruling as they
lead to an increase in prisons, thus making it hard to share the
limited available resources.
Impact of organizational structure on organizational ethics
The structure of any organization is fundamental as it
determines the roles to be
executed by individuals in the work environment. According to
(James 2016), organizational
structures often define roles of each individual from the top
management to the subordinates,
therefore, having an impact on ethics. More often than not,

senior management acts as the
leader by setting up principles and guidelines that are to be
followed by everyone to achieve
the ethical requirements of the day-to-day operations. The
structure of the company has
impacts on organizational ethics as rules the senior management
must follow; the
subordinates will also adhere to the same regulations in a
similar manner. Abuse of office or
absconding from duties by the organization leaders will impact
the lower level workers
negatively as they will tend to do what their seniors do.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a non-
profit organization
founded by Julie Stewart in 1991 to advocate against current
sentencing laws and fight for
criminal justice reform (FAMM, 2019). FAMM is an
organization that is fighting against
what most would consider the enethical concerns of mandatory
minimum sentencing. The
very laws put in place to protect citizens from “harmful”
criminals have long been fought
against regarding the ethical and constitutional concerns.
FAMM helps families with the

necessary resources in order to help their loved ones that have
been unfairly sentencing based
on current sentencing standards. This organization has has a
profound impact in pushing the
First Step Act and helping with legal issues surrounding
clemency.
Sentencing 3
Evaluation of Inventory Public Management Skills
On my developmental level, assessing each of the skills was
vital for me. I have
captured a lot in regard to have a clear understanding of the
dynamics of a team, improving
communication skills, ability to make clear and detailed
presentations, and contributing to the
development of the team activities. I have acquired skills in the
role of a supporting player in
team development and improving the delivery of information
when needed. I am good at

public speaking, as I have been able to gain confidence over
some time through regular
contributions of ideas.
Lack of knowledge would have an effect to me as a leader in
addressing ethical
concerns. Having no information on ethical concerns of a given
setting would have a
negative effect that would lower my self-esteem in regard to
following ethics as a leader. My
team would be disappointed in the style of leadership with little
or no knowledge that I
embrace, considering the work output to be delivered. Lack of
vision for the future would
also have an impact as my team expects a leader who is focused
and has plans for the future
rather than to become complacent with what we have. This
will, in turn, lead to the team
having a negative attitude towards me, and hindering
improvement in areas of work, which
will make it difficult for us to survive in the industry related
work environment.
Strategies to Become an Effective Public Administrator
The ability to delegate duties and empower staff would be
among the strategies I

would implement to make an effective public administrator. I
would delegate tasks to my
subordinates and have a review with them on how they perform
rather than micro-managing
them to do their work, which could lessen the ability to discover
new ways to doing things.
Supplying them with adequate resources they need to execute
their duties would also help
improve the performance of staff. Another strategy I would use
is the ability to be
accountable - accountability among everyone in the workplace
will have reduced rates of
Sentencing 4
blame games as everyone will be responsible for what they will
be doing, and it will create
the act of responsibility. It would also make them be more
observant of what they do to
provide the right quality needed. Each team would be held
accountable for whatever action
they decide to take that would affect the company negatively.

Sentencing 5
References
James, H. S. (2016). Reinforcing ethical decision making
through organizational structure.
Journal of Business Ethics, 28(1), 43-58.
Bedau, H. A. (2014). Classification-Based Sentencing: Some
Conceptual and Ethical
Problems. New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement, 10, 1.
Martin Jr, J. S. (2017). Why Mandatory Minimums Make No
Sense. Notre Dame JL Ethics &
Pub. Pol'y, 18, 311.
FAMM. (2019). Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
Retrieved from https://famm.org/.
Oliss, P. (2014). Mandatory minimum sentencing: Discretion,
the safety valve, and the
sentencing guidelines. U. Cin. L. Rev., 63, 1851.

https://famm.org/
Managing Competing Agendas 1
Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentencing
The U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) instituted a judicial
policy, which requires
judges to punish certain crimes with an absolute minimum
period of incarceration regardless
of the circumstances. The DOJ has a mandatory minimum
sentence that could define the
amount of the time that an individual could stay in prison for
the crime the person had
committed. The most common offenses the department was
dealing with is drug offenses.
The department was campaigning against anti-drug abuse to
blitzkrieg the increasing
incidents of drug trafficking in the country.

The mandatory minimum sentencing was established during the
Reagan
administration to address the perceived drug epidemic, which
expands to the next decade.
The issue became popular, which embraced by the parties of
Republican Reagan and Bush
administrations, which later continued to the Clinton
Democratic administration in the 1990s.
The mandatory minimum was enforced in 31 states and
Washington in 1994 (Baker, 2018).
Congress abandoned the idea that federal judges can determine
sentencing, being appointed
by the president and afterward confirmed by the U.S senate, as
they said they have the
training and necessary knowledge of identifying the most
dangerous drug offenders and
punishing them.
The DOJ is led by the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney
General of the U.S.
The Department is broken down into agency’s such as the
Office of Legal Policy, the Office
of Violence Against Women, the F.B.I., U.S. Attorney’s, U.S.
Parole Commission, etc. Each

agency within the DOJ operates independently and has their
own missions, but still falls
under the Attorney General and supports the overall mission of
the DOJ.
MANDATORY MINIMUM PRISON SENTENCING 2
Human Resource Management
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws were enacted by Congress
and must be
followed by the DOJ. The role of human resource management
in the DOJ plays a crucial
part in taking care of the human capital. They are responsible
for ensuring the department is
working well. Human resource management develops policies
and programs to attract and
retain the best and brightest employees for the agency (Jiang,
2012).
Human resources within the DOJ can both negatively and
positively impact the issue
of mandatory minmum sentencing. With the mission of human
resources being to hire the

best employees for the department, if employees that are hired
have ideas and agendas to try
to make mandatory mimimun sentencing laws more reasonable,
then the outcome would be
positive (or negative I suppose, depending on the opinion of
reader). Employees could
perform research studies, compile statistics and facts to support
a change to the current laws
and empower their leadership channels to listen and consider
such a change. Human
resources can provide employees with the right channels for
their voices and opionions to be
heard.
Budgeting As Part of the Organizational Structure
The eith amendment of the U.S. Constitution states there should
not be excessive bail
nor excessive fines imposed on offenders. One could argue that
mandatory minimum
sentencing laws violate the constitutional right as sometimes
sentences are viewed as cruel
and unreasonable. This Mandatory minimum sentencing and
excessively long sentences are
very unfair, very expensive, and wasteful. Mandatory minimum

sentencing laws negatively
impacted the budgeting part of the government. It has brought a
negative impact on the
budget of some of the agencies within the DOJ. For example,
the Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
now has the burden of housing many of these criminals for
extended periods of time and this
comes at a price of approximately $100/day and per person.
The BOP is not the only agency effected by the cost of
mandatory minimum
sentencing. Take into consideration the financial cost to the
U.S. Attorney’s office, FBI,
DEA, ATF and other similar agencies that may be involved with
each case. The financial
burden is most likely not placed on the criminal, but moreso the
tax payers and the budget set
in place for each specific agency. The cost of mandatory
minimums often far outweigh the
cost of rehabilitation programs to reduce recidivism rates as
well as reducing the sentences

for drug crimes with non-violent offenses.
Political Environment
Most of the political parties and leaders are involved in making
the laws and
regulations in the DOJ. The presidential administrations and
Congress are responsible for
instated the mandatory minimum sentencing with the primary
purpose of addressing the
perceived crack problems and enormous drug epidemic. The
mandatory minimum
sentencing laws were very popular across all the parties and was
being embraced by the
Republican Reagan and the Bush administrations and was later
continued with the democratic
of Clinton administration in the year 1990. From the year 1994,
the mandatory minimums
were enforced in 31 states and Washington, D.C.
The political responsiveness determines management
effectiveness as the political
parties are the main variables and elements of the appointees in
the department. For example,
if the judges are the ones who are appointed by the president
they will be dealing with the

activities that are on the key agendas of the president.
Judges have sufficient career experience and career background,
and they are the ones
who are supposed to bring the development using effective
public policies. But, on the other
hand, the political parties who are the chief appointees and who
do not have any information
and experience on the public policies are the ones who control
the systems. Therefore,
development is impacted.
There are challenges in the development and forward movement
when the appointed
judges cannot act using their career knowledge and experience
to make sentencing decisions.
They differ with the critical agendas of Congress than that of
employees within the DOJ.
Therefore, when the the department intends to exercise the
policies towards the development,
they vary with the opinions of the political appointees.

References
Baker, S. (2018). Written Communication. Unpublished
communication assignment.
Strayer University.
Mandatory Minimums and Sentencing Reform. (n.d.). Retrieved
from
https://www.cjpf.org/mandatory-minimums.
Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Hu, J., & Baer, J. C. (2012). How does
human resource
management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-
analytic investigation of mediating
mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6), 1264-
1294.
Oliver, C., & Holzinger, I. (2008). The effectiveness of
strategic political
management: A dynamic capabilities framework. Academy of
Management Review, 33(2),
496-520.

POLICY ISSUE
Mandatory minimum sentencing is a judicial policy in the
United States that requires
judges to punish certain crimes with an absolute minimum
period of time in prison, regardless of
circumstance (USSC, 1991). The 1980s and 1990s have been
classified as the ‘tough on crime’
era in regards to US criminal justice legislation and then-
criminal justice reform. Anti-drug
sentiment was pervasive throughout the country, with highly
visible and expensive advertising
campaigns directed for anti-drug causes. The campaigns were
one aspect of a multi-faceted
blitzkrieg on the increasing incidence of drug trafficking
throughout the United States,
particularly crack cocaine. In addition, mandatory minimum
sentencing was instated during the
Reagan administration, primarily to address the perceived crack
and greater drug epidemic,
expanding throughout the next decade. It was a popular issue
that crossed party lines, being

embraced by the Republican Reagan and Bush administrations,
and continuing with the
Democratic Clinton administration in the 1990s; by 1994
mandatory minimums were enforced in
31 states and Washington, DC (Baker, 2018).
PUBLIC POLICY
Mandatory minimum sentencing is covered under the
Regulatory public policy as this
type of policy limits the actions of people in order to protect the
general public. In order to
protect the general public - the people of the United States,
mandatory minimums were
introduced as a means to control or stymie ‘dangerous
criminals’.
POLICY MODIFICATION
One revision to this policy I would introduce would be the
elimination of mandatory
minimum sentencing for non-violent drug offenses. I believe
this would positively impact this
policy because currently the state and federal prisons are
overcrowded, partly due to those
incarcerated for lengthy prison sentences for drug charges.
Individuals sentenced to prison time

for drug offenses should have their cases re-evaluated and
determined on a case-by-case basis
versus on a standard nationwide scale. When the Fair
Sentencing Act of 2010 was initiated, the
new polices were not said to be retroactive and only applied to
new cases. Many of those who
are currently incarcerated would not receive the same sentences
if their cases were tried in court
today. I do not believe a one size fits all policy is conducive to
fixing the overall drug problems
in the U.S.
A second modification to this policy I would introduce would
be the re-instatement of
judicial power and discretion. Mandatory minimum sentencing
essentially removes the
discretion of judges from the equation when it comes to
sentencing. Judges should have the
power to veto certain sentencing standards, but with mandatory
minimums their hands are tied.
Again, each case should be judged and evaluated individually
and not on a national standardized
scale.

If the U.S. were to issue commutations to all prisoners
incarcerated for non-violent, drug
offenses in one mass sweep, I do believe this would have
negative consequences. Not every case
is the same and some prisoners may not meet specific criteria to
be released back into society.
This could be for a number of different reasons, such as
behavior in prison, has the prisoner
taken advantage of any rehabilitation programs while
incarcerated, has a release plan been
established to mitigate the risk of repeat offenses or behaviors.
Maintaining the current three-
strike rule also has negative connotations to addressing the mass
incarceration problems in the
U.S. The three-strike rule states a third felony, regardless of
what type of felony, constitutes a
mandatory, lengthy prison sentence, typically a life sentence.
The three felony charges could
amount to non-violent crimes with a monetary amount of $500
each, however the bill for the
federal government to incarcerate someone for a life sentence
could amount to well over
$500,000.00; and this is per person.

THE CONSTITUTION
The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states
‘excessive bail shall not be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted’ (Levy, n.d.).
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws in the U.S. potentially
violates this constitutional right
because the sentences can be viewed as excessive or cruel and
unusual. It has been theorized in
the past that the drug epidemic the U.S. government legislated
mandatory minimums against was
created by (or at least significantly contributed from) the U.S.
government itself. It was revealed
in 1996 that the US Central Intelligence Agency likely funded
the ‘contra’ insurgency against the
Nicaraguan government in the 1980s, using millions of dollars
raised from the black-market sale
of crack cocaine to urban Los Angeles (Blum 1996). Therefore,
it could be (and has been) argued
that mandatory minimum sentences represented the U.S.
government, strongly punishing a
population for suffering from an epidemic that they themselves
intentionally infected (Baker,

2018).
The 14th Amendment states ‘nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws’ (LII, n.d.). Mandatory minimum
sentencing could be viewed as
unconstitutional in the realm of the 14th amendment because of
the enactment of the Fair
Sentencing Act not being retroactive. One could argue this to
be an unequal representation of
protection of the law.
The federal government enacted the mandatory minimum
sentencing laws in the U.S.,
therefore placing a general practice all states must follow. This
does not leave room for
interpretation of the sentencing rules as the law is stated for
every judge to follow, regardless of
each individual circumstance.

REFERENCES
Baker, S. (2018). Written Communication. Unpublished
communication assignment. Strayer
University.
Levy, M. (n.d.). Eighth Amendment. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eighth-
Amendment
Blum, W. (1996). The CIA, contras, gangs, and crack. Foreign
Policy in Focus. Retrieved from
https://ips-dc.org/the_cia_contras_gangs_and_crack/

Legal Information Institute (n.d.). Cornell Law School. 14th
Amendment. Retrieved from
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv
%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20A
mendment
%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20A
mendment
OMIS665 Fall 2019
Group Project
The main requirement of the project is that it exercises essential
design principles and concepts covered in class. Generally, you
should accomplish following tasks:
· get some interesting data from the web (for example,
www.kaggle.com) or from elsewhere.
· produce some graphs (visualization) to support further
analysis
· set up related hypothesis to analyze the data if it is possible
· build some model or models (e.g. regression model,

classification analysis) if it is possible
· evaluate the results from both statistics perspective and
practical perspective
Presentation (60 points): the presentation portions of these
projects will be given in class on scheduled dates (see the
tentative schedule). Each team will deliver a 10-12 minutes
presentation that shares knowledge about the projects they have
investigated with their colleagues; 3 additional minutes will be
reserved for Q&A. Presentation grades will be determined by a
combination of the following:
Project Quality: Each team will perform an in-depth analysis of
the issues involved. The presentation should include at least the
following contents:
· Purpose of the project: its main goals
· Detailed description of the selected dataset (background, types
of variables, meaning of variables, descriptive statistical
measures of variables, etc.)
· Detailed identification of possible relationships among
variables
· Detailed statistical analysis of selected dataset
· Detailed description of the practical recommendations
· Conclusions
Presentation Quality: All members in a team are required to
participate in the presentation. When preparing the
presentations, students should consider the following
suggestions regarding content, style, and quality:
· Quality of visual aids (e.g. PPT, dashboards, reports, etc.)
· Well-defined portions in both words and visual aids
· Audience understanding
· Delivery elements such as eye contact with audience, clarity
of speech and voice projection, unnecessary actions,
professional style in raising questions and debating other teams,

etc.
In short, student should pay close attention to all things that
make for a professional presentation.
Written Report (20 points): When preparing the reports,
students should consider the following suggestions regarding
format:
· Headings for all major sections, and sub-headings for larger
sections broken down into meaningful parts
· Team member names and email addresses
· 1-inch margins and 12-point, Time New Roman font
· Double spacing
· Neatly-printed, word-processed text
· Use of graphs or tables to improve the quality and
effectiveness of the report
· 8-page minimum
Peer Evaluation (20 points): At the end of the semester, students
will be asked to evaluate the contribution of the other members
of their group. If you do the project by yourself, you will get
the full evaluation score.

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