Mandatory Minimums
Canada's Conservatives Try Again with Mandatory Minimum Drug Bill [FEATURE]
Massachusetts Approves Some Drug Sentencing Reforms
Congress: Senate Passes Bill to Reduce, But Not Eliminate, Crack/Powder Sentencing Disparity
Press Release: NJ Senate Comm. to Vote on Reforming Mandatory Minimum Drug Laws
Sentencing Project Recommendations to U.S. Sentencing Commission
Families Against Mandatory Minimums: Knock down drug sentences!
Friends --
Great news! The first bill of the new Congress to eliminate mandatory minimums for all drugs was introduced by Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on March 12, 2009. Â
H.R. 1466, the Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009, seeks to repeal mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and to give courts the ability to determine sentences based on all the facts, not just drug weight. It would also refocus federal resources on major drug traffickers instead of low-level offenders. There is currently no companion bill in the Senate.
We are excited about getting this legislation passed, but we can't do it without your help. It will take time and effort to make this bill become law. The first step is to ask your representative to become a cosponsor of H.R. 1466. If they already are cosponsors, please take a moment to thank them. FAMM's action center gives you talking points to use in your letters and also lets you know if your representative is already on board. Click here to contact your representative now.
It won't be fast and it won't be easy, but by working together, with commitment and with focus, we can knock down mandatory minimum sentencing laws and insure that the punishment fits the crime once more.Â
Thanks for getting involved today!
My best -
JulieÂ
Julie Stewart
President
Sentences that Fit. Justice that Works.
Urge Obama to commute like Lincoln!
Friends --
Today we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincolnâs birth. While most people know that Lincoln freed the slaves and saved the Union, many donât know that he was also one of the most generous presidents when it came to granting pardons and commutations.
In one term, Lincoln granted almost 400 commutations and pardons. Lincoln gave clemency to everyday offenders, Southern sympathizers, draft dodgers, and wrongfully-charged Indians. He had a weakness for weeping mothers who, in those days, could walk right into the White House and beg for mercy for their sons at the presidentâs knee. As many of you know from personal experience, itâs not so easy to get a clemency request into the White House today, and it is much harder to get one granted.Â
Lincoln also used clemency strategically, to inspire Congress to act. At the end of the war, he pardoned ex-Confederates as a way of telling Congress to put differences aside and start rebuilding the country.Â
Join us today in asking President Obama to do as Lincoln did: to grant clemency generously and strategically. By doing so, he will send a strong message to Congress that mandatory minimum sentencing laws are undermining American principles of justice and must be changed. President Obama needs to know how much normal, everyday offenders and their families are counting on clemency, so help FAMM by writing to him now!  Click here to send a letter or email to President Obama.
My best,
Julie
Julie Stewart
President
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
NEW POLL: Americans Oppose Mandatory Minimums, Will Vote for Candidates Who Feel the Same
Press Release
EMBARGOED UNTIL:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Sept. 24, 2008, 11:00 AM Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Contact:Â Monica Pratt Raffanel, (678) 261-8118 or (202) 822-6700Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Press teleconference today! Wednesday, September 24 at 11 a.m. ET
Dial In Number: (800) 593-9034
Passcode:Â FAMM (3266)
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NEW POLL: Americans Oppose Mandatory Minimums,
Will Vote for Candidates Who Feel the Same
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WASHINGTON, D.C. â A new poll released today by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) shows widespread support for ending mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses and that Americans will vote for candidates who feel the same way.Â
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·        Fully 78 percent of Americans (nearly eight in 10) agree that courts â not Congress â should determine an individualâs prison sentence.Â
·        Six in 10 (59 percent) oppose mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders.
·        A majority of Americans (57 percent) polled said they would likely vote for a candidate for Congress who would eliminate all mandatory minimums for nonviolent crimes.
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âPoliticians have voted for mandatory minimum sentences so they could appear âtough on crimeâ to their constituents. They insist that their voters support these laws, but itâs just not true,â says Julie Stewart, president and founder of FAMM. âRepublicans and Democrats support change and that should encourage members of Congress to reach across the aisle next year and work together to reform mandatory minimums. Mandatory sentencing reform is not a partisan issue, but an issue about fairness and justice that transcends party lines.âÂ
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During a time of financial crisis and uncertainty in the United States, reviewing current criminal justice policies and reforming mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders is an option that Democratic and Republican lawmakers are considering. Although neither is endorsing FAMMâs poll or report, Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) are both concerned about Americaâs prison and sentencing system.
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âAmerica is locking up people at astonishing rates. In the name of âgetting tough on crime,â there are now 2.2 million Americans in federal, state, and local prisons and jails and over 7 million under some form of correction supervision, including probation and parole. We have the largest prison population in the world,â says Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), who is chairing a symposium on criminal justice and prison issues in October. âThis growth is not a response to increasing crime rates, but a reliance on prisons and long mandatory sentences as the common response to crime. It is time for Americaâs leadership to realize what the public understands â our approach is costly, unfair and impractical.â
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âMandatory minimums wreak havoc on a logical system of sentencing guidelines,â says Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.). âMandatory minimums turn todayâs hot political rhetoric into the nightmares of many tomorrows for judges and families.â
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"This poll suggests that a majority of Americans are open to re-examining this issue and moving to a court-driven sentencing model,â said Sparky Zivin, Research Director at StrategyOne.
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The poll bolsters the findings of FAMMâs comprehensive new report, Correcting Course: Lessons from the 1970 Repeal of Mandatory Minimums, which describes how Congress repealed mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses in 1970 â and had no trouble getting reelected.Â
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âOur report and poll show that lawmakers can vote to reform mandatory minimums for nonviolent offenses and live to tell the story. Republicans and Democrats alike donât want these laws. They donât work, they cost taxpayers a fortune, and people believe Courts can sentence better than Congress can. Another repeal of mandatory drug sentences isnât just doable, itâs doable right now,â says Molly Gill, author of Correcting Course.Â
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The report details how Congress created mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offenders in 1951 and repealed them in 1970 because the laws failed to stop drug abuse, addiction and trafficking. It also finds that after 20 years of experience, current mandatory minimums have failed as badly as those enacted in the 1950s. Correcting Course concludes that mandatory minimum sentences:
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⢠Have not discouraged drug use in the United States.
⢠Have not reduced drug trafficking.
⢠Have created soaring state and federal corrections costs.
⢠Impose substantial indirect costs on families by imprisoning spouses, parents, and breadwinners for lengthy periods.
⢠Are not applied evenly, disproportionately impacting minorities and resulting in vastly different sentences for equally blameworthy offenders.
⢠Undermine federalism by turning state-level offenses into federal crimes.
⢠Undermine separation of powers by usurping judicial discretion.
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Eric Sterling, counsel to the House Judiciary Committee when mandatory sentences were enacted, says, âIn 1986, we got stuck with some of the most punitive, least effective criminal sentencing laws ever created. Mandatory minimums havenât stopped the drug trade. They havenât locked up the big dealers and importers. Theyâre applied to small fries, not kingpins. Itâs a waste of taxpayer dollars to lock up a street-level dealer for 10 years when that money could be spent on treatment, drug courts, or going after the people bringing in boatloads of drugs every year. Getting rid of mandatory minimums is about getting our priorities straight.â
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Correcting Course includes comprehensive strategies for how Congress can repeal these ineffective laws today and better reflect the popular attitude among Americans, as brought out in the findings of the poll.Â
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âMandatory minimums are among the worst criminal justice policies ever adopted in this country. They treat all offenders the same, when the most sacred principle of American sentencing law is that punishment should fit the individual and the crime. Repealing these laws isnât impossible â itâs been done before. The next Congress should do it again,â says FAMM founder and president Julie Stewart.
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FAMMâs poll was conducted by the independent public opinion research firm StrategyOne. The survey was conducted by telephone between July 31 and August 3, 2008 with 1,000 adults randomly selected across the United States. The margin of sampling error for the poll is plus or minus 3.1 percent for 95 out of 100 cases.
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Families Against Mandatory Minimums is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that supports fair and proportionate sentencing laws that allow judicial discretion while maintaining public safety. For more information on FAMM, visit www.famm.org or call Monica Pratt Raffanel at 678-261-8118.
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Marc Mauer Testifies on Mandatory Minimum Sentencing at House
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