"Unintended Consequences of Mandatory Minimum Sentences:
"- Significant increases in the costs of corrections due to longer prison terms and an increasing prison population;
"- Removal from consideration of other sentencing options that may prove to be less costly and/or more effective than mandatory incarceration;
"- Impact on all aspects of the criminal justice system, including pleas or verdicts and offender eligibility for rehabilitation programs and early release;
"- Limiting the discretion of the sentencing judge."

Source

Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing: Report to the House of Representatives, House Resolution 12, Session of 2007, "A Study on the Use and Impact of Mandatory Minimum Sentences," (Harrisburg, PA: October 2009), p. 5.
http://pwr.la.psu.edu...