For example, in the United States what happened is that they noticed in some cases that the crime rates were falling after the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences, but when they looked a little more carefully, they noticed that they had started to fall well before the mandatory minimums were adopted.
Par exemple, aux États-Unis, on a remarqué que, dans certains cas, les taux de criminalité baissaient après l'imposition de peines minimales obligatoires, mais après un examen attentif, on a constaté que cette diminution s'était amorcée avant que ne soient adoptées les peines minimales.