Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentencing in the U.S (PowerPoint)

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

Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison 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.

Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison 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

Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison 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.

Leadership and Ethics within Mandatory Minimum Prison 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.