The result, many complain, is distorted justice. For example, while some teen-ager might be sent to federal prison for five years for a drug crime, a child molester convicted in state court may not serve any time at all. The federal system is like a big, sleeping dragon. If you wake it up and it pays attention to you, it'll eat you. There are no clear rules about what drug cases are handled by the federal system, but they generally involve large-scale and often violent drug dealers and their organizations.
Most complaints concern the treatment given to others - people with minor roles in the drug trade.
We have enough that we don't go looking for cases. Overbaugh pointed out that in its 1994 crime bill, Congress provided an escape hatch for minor drug criminals with no past record. In those cases, judges may depart from mandatory minimum sentences, he said. It hurts society. It tells us there's a certain type of people, like Trimble, who are above everyone else.