Dear Future President,

In the contents of this letter, I will be addressing one of the major problems in the United States. That major problem is the unfairness of prison sentencing. I believe that the way that they are handing out sentences is unfair, unjust, and just plain wrong. Judges are handing out sentences to people who have done minor problems, and that is a problem. A lot of people were not happy when they heard about the minimum sentencing for things like rape, compared to drugs.

Someone who is in possession of drugs has a minimum sentence of five years, while rapists can have as little as four years. Many people sit in jail today for as little as possession of Marijuana, our jails are maxed out because of minimum sentencing. There are over two million people in the US, sitting in jail, a lot of those people are in jail for minor crimes. If it weren’t for minimum sentencing, more people would be out working, and there would be room in prisons for actual bad people, like rapists and murderers.

More young people are sitting in prisons because they made a mistake and got caught with drugs. I think instead of putting them in prison, the government should send them to a rehabilitation center, therefore freeing up space in prisons. The fair Sentencing of Youth Organization stated, “In 29 states, once a young person is convicted of a particular crime in the adult system, he or she must receive a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.” I do not agree with this statement, I believe that you cannot put rapists in the same group as drug-attics.

An appropriate example for this topic would be Brock Turner. A former Stanford swimmer served three months in prison for sexual assault. He was found guilty of assaulting a twenty-three unconscious woman on Stanford campus. I find it very unfair that he only had to spend three months locked up, but people who get caught with drugs are put in prison for longer. Many people who are locked up for a long period of time, for a minor crime, usually aren’t able to go back to the way things were before. Unfair sentencing affects people's whole lives, it is unfair that people who have committed minor crimes, have to share the punishment with people who have committed much more extreme crimes, and I think that this issue should definitely be fixed by our future president.

I would like to thank you, Future President for taking the time out of your busy day, to read my letter. I hope that you consider all of the information that I have pointed out, and that you will try to fix our country’s problems.

Sincerely,

Trinity Torres