Yes, over-lenient judges have been a problem in the past, but Federal minimum sentencing guidelines were not the solution, at least not in the way they turned out. All too often, fixing the tariffs was little more than an orgy of macho posturing as politicians competed to show how ‘tough’ they could be on crime. The result? Some absurd miscarriages of justice and a standing invitation to prosecutors to abuse the system. Sadly, John Ashcroft seems set on making a bad situation worse.