tag | mandatory minimum

Amen Brown, a freshman state representative from Philadelphia, has been inundated with criticism since introducing a bill that would institute new mandatory minimum sentences for gun-related crime.

Under current law, the maximum penalty for that crime is two years. Under Brown’s bill, it appears the mandatory minimum for that offense would be ten years.

Speaker Mike Turzai counters that he did so because of a routine parliamentary issue.

For more than 40 years, life sentences in Pennsylvania have only come one way: without the possibility of parole.