Email from FAMM:

Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee passed the first major reconsideration of federal mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws since the Nixon Administration. The Committee voted, 13-5, in support of S. 1410, the Smarter Sentencing Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL).

The bill isn’t a law – this was our first big hurdle to clear, and we have a long way to go yet. Our next steps are to try to get the full U.S. Senate to consider and vote on the bill, and then we’ll have to go through the same process in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and the full U.S. House of Representatives. But we’re excited to see the bill moving at last!

The Smarter Sentencing Act did get changed during the markup. As amended and passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Smarter Sentencing Act:

Would reduce most mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug offenders by half (but would not be retroactive)
Would narrowly increase the scope of an existing “safety valve” exception to federal drug offenses
Would make the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA) retroactive, allowing 8,800 federal crack cocaine offenders sentenced under the old 100-to-1 ratio to return to court to seek lower sentences in line with the FSA
Would require the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies to compile, and make publicly available on their websites, lists of all federal laws and regulations carrying criminal penalties. This part of the bill addresses growing bipartisan concerns about the issue of “over-criminalization” – that there are too many federal crimes and that people can and do unknowingly and unintentionally break laws and regulations and serve jail or prison time for violations that could be better addressed with fines
Would add new mandatory minimum sentences for federal sexual abuse, domestic violence, and terrorism offenses.
FAMM strongly supports the underlying bill; however, we have deep concerns about the new federal mandatory minimums for domestic violence and sexual abuse that were added during the markup. They are unjustified and opposed by the very victims they are supposed to protect. We’ll be working hard to get these mandatory minimums removed so that they are not part of a final law.

Although FAMM works for the total repeal of all mandatory minimum sentences, for all crimes, this bill is a necessary compromise that will help address many of the drivers of our exploding prison population. In short, it is a start.

Congressmen Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Raul Labrador (R-ID) have introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act (H.R. 3382) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it has been gaining cosponsors from both parties in recent weeks. We’ll be urging the House Judiciary Committee to consider the Smarter Sentencing Act and pass it this year.

Keep checking our website for updates on the Smarter Sentencing Act’s progress. If you haven’t asked your members of Congress to support the bill yet, click here to tell them to help us today!

Julie
Julie Stewart
President and Founder