I am for enforcement, but when I was in college, I was a criminal justice major... what we had leared there was that stiffer penalties did not seem to make much of a difference in the criminal mind set. It only keeps those weak of heart and those of strong morals out of trouble. If you want to see how well mandatory sentencing works, look to Oregon. Oregon's former Governor Kitzhaber (sp?) had made a speech against what was then Measure 11, that in a nutshell said that we were no longer going to educate the states youth, we were going to imprison them. No, he was opposed to mandatory sentencing. Cops have a very difficult job, I am not downplaying that or the danger that they are in for our safety. Please remember that they are citizens just like you and I. Why should the sentancing be any differnet? there is a theory that someone who klls a cop must be more depraved than someone who just kills an ordinary citizen. Why? Why is Officer friendly's life somehow more valuable then yours or mine? It isn't it is just as precious as ours. so why pack the prisons? We already imprison more of our population per capita than any other nation in the world... How long can we afford that?