Dear Inquirer,

It is disheartening to see that Pennsylvania’s legislators are again looking to harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws as an answer to gun violence in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5). Mandatory sentencing dramatically increases the number of people in prison, even as countless studies have shown it does nothing to deter crime.

Lawmakers should know better. In 2007, the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, an entity funded by the state specifically to guide sentencing policy, released a report that showed mandatory sentencing has no impact on recidivism.  

Over the past 30 years, Pennsylvania's incarceration rate has increased by over 500 percent, largely because of this kind of short-sighted legislation. The state is spending over $400 million to build new prisons just outside of Philadelphia, while 23 schools in the city are slated to close to due budget cuts. It is past time for a different approach.  

It is especially disturbing that this proposed bill would apply only to people in Philadelphia. Already, Pennsylvania incarcerates Black people at a rate nine times higher than whites. Singling out Philadelphia—a city that is majority people of color—as the sole target of this harsh new law virtually guarantees an increase in the already outrageous racial disparity in the prison system. There is simply no reason to apply a sentencing law only to Philadelphians unless it is specifically intended to target people of color.

Philadelphia has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, yet there were 331 homicides here in 2012 alone. Clearly, mass imprisonment is not solving the devastating problems caused by gun violence. If legislators care about keeping people safe, they should attack the root causes of violence by investing in schools, healthcare, and community programs. This would create opportunity, employment, and hope, not simply more prison cells. 

Sean Damon, Decarcerate PA