Leonard N. Sosnov, a Widener University Delaware Law School professor and the recipient of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award, assailed mandatory minimums and called on Pennsylvania to end life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in a brief acceptance speech Wednesday night.

In his remarks, Sosnov criticized the laws as unfair and overly harsh and for taking discretion away from judges in sentencing.

“They're bad news. They're indiscriminate. They're automatic,” Sosnov said. “It deprives judges of the opportunity to judge.”