Well... it kind of still does. Given that plea bargains are typically taken based on how the trial goes.
Plea Bargains are basically a game of chicken and tend to favor the guilty over the innocent as it is (which is why in some places... Plea Bargains are made illegal.. which had the unusual unheard of consequence of the police doing a better job at crime scene investigation... No idea why)
And the actual damages you face to your life if you lose are determined by what charges with mandatory minimums the prosecutor chooses to throw at you. This is before and independent of the actual adjudication of the case, and the case usually is never even tried if the consequences of losing are terrifying enough to the defendant.
Mandatory minimums take the decision making power essentially away from the judge and jury.
I'm well aware of why plea bargaining is, at this point, an indispensable part of the criminal justice system, as it would essentially collapse if every single minor case had to get a full trial, but it's impossible to ignore the ultimate cost in terms of justice, especially for innocent defendants. Guilty defendants get lighter punishments than they deserved, but innocent defendants (as few as they may be) get terrorized into pleading guilty to things they aren't guilty of, and mandatory minimums have a lot to do with that.
My favorite is that often these groups will discount how, you know, the actual minorities feel and project onto them. If the minorities complain? Well it is because they are brainwashed.
They're usually not quite that crude in language. If a woman disagrees with them, it's "internalized misogyny" or "internalized racism" if it's a minority group member.
Basically... it is why Speedy Gonzales was banned for years... because he was Racist to Mexicans, as told by not Mexicans.
Meanwhile, Speedy Gonzales remains highly popular in Mexico.
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Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14980875 times)