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Former Federal Judge Reflects On Mandatory Minimums
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Robert Johnson (not his real name) is currently serving 10 years in prison.
A nonviolent, first time offender, he was sentenced for possession and distribution of cocaine.
He was put there by Judge Nancy Gertner. In fact, he's one of the hundreds of men and women Judge Gertner sentenced during her 17-year judicial career.
Now, she says, it's time to fix the system that forced her to put him there.
Guest
Nancy Gertner, Harvard Law School professor and former Massachusetts federal judge.
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The Boston Globe: Undoing The Damage Of Mass Incarceration
- "Over a 17-year judicial career, I sent hundreds of defendants to jail — and about 80 percent of them received a sentence that was disproportionate, unfair, and discriminatory. Mass incarceration was not an abstraction to me. Sadly, I was part of it."