Prof. Aaron Rappaport

Most states have some kind of mandatory minimum sentencing law, for offenses that range in severity from drunken driving to violent crimes, said Aaron Rappaport, a law professor and sentencing expert at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

He's not surprised with the push in Vermont for tighter sentencing laws amid the controversy swirling about Hulett's sentence.

"Mandatory minimums is the classic response when there's a public outcry about a specific crime," Rappaport said last week.
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Rappaport, the Hastings College law professor, said mandatory minimums might have unintended long-term consequences.

"When you rush to judgment, you end up passing over-broad sentences," Rappaport said.
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Rappaport said Vermonters should be cautious as the mandatory-minimums proposal gains momentum in response to a single sentencing incident.Such laws often become difficult to undo later, he said.

"The ratchet typically turns only one way," he said.

Professor Aaron Rappaport, Hastings College of Law

The panel was moderated by Professor Aaron Rappaport, Hastings College of Law.
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Professor Aaron Rappaport, Hastings College of Law

By VIKRAM DAVID AMAR AND AARON RAPPAPORT
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Aaron Rappaport is a professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.He is a 1991 graduate of Yale Law School, and a former clerk to now-Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Court of Appeals.Prior to teaching, Professor Rappaport served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the Federal Communications Commission, and was an Assistant Director on the National Economic Council.Between 1996 and 2005, Professor Rappaport was also an editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, a leading journal on sentencing law.