Offending the concept of justice

Via TalkLeft: Florida’s Judge Gregory Posnell refused to apply guidline sentences for a drug conviction that would have called for 188 months for a 24-year-old with thyroid cancer, based on drug stings involving $500. And he let us know how he felt in his opinion (pdf).

A guideline sentence in this case starkly illustrates the problem of attempting to fit the human experience into a discrete mathematical matrix. It just can’t be done, and this Court cannot in good conscience do it, because it offends the Court’s concept of justice.
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In the meantime, the “war on drugs” goes on. Others will undoubtedly replace Torrey Williams in the chain of drug commerce, and the Courts will continue to incarcerate them for long periods at alarming rates.

More at Doug Berman’s blog.