Attention FAMM members:
It’s not too late to tell the Sentencing Commission to make crack guideline changes retroactive!
Do you support fair and equitable sentences? Have a loved one in prison serving a mandatory sentence?
Please take a moment to write the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) in support of making changes to the federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine “retroactive” (meaning, applicable to people already in prison serving sentences for crack). All letters must be postmarked by October 31.
FAMM members have already helped generate 10,000 letters to the Sentencing Commission in support of retroactivity. Some members have gotten their churches, classmates, neighbors and friends to write letters, using FAMM’s letter as a guide. Please click here to write a letter. (Note: You will need to print and mail the letter to the USSC.)
If the amendment goes into effect on Nov. 1, it will result in shorter sentences for most federal crack defendants sentenced after November 1, 2007. FAMM campaigned for the proposed amendment to the crack guidelines and also asked the Commission to make it retroactively applicable to those who were sentenced before November 1, 2007.
We don’t know if the amendment will be made retroactive – but we are working hard for it! On November 13, the United States Sentencing Commission will hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C. on making the crack guideline changes retroactive. We will invite local members to attend the hearing to show the human face of people affected by unjust mandatory sentences. Please click here to download FAMM’s fact sheet on the retroactive application of the crack guideline amendment.
Although these changes won’t affect everyone who is sentenced under unjust federal sentencing laws, it is a huge step forward to our goals for fair and equitable sentences for all defendants. Thank you for your support of FAMM and sentencing justice.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Price
Vice President and General Counsel
FAMM