For Immediate Release
Date: January 12, 2010
Contact: media@famm.org
Governor Jon Corzine today signed historic legislation that rolls back New Jersey’s inflexible mandatory minimum sentencing laws in certain drug-free school zone cases. This is the final step in a long campaign by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), legislators, and many other individuals and groups.
Deborah Fleischaker, FAMM’s director of state legislative affairs, made the following statement:
“This historic act by Gov. Corzine and the New Jersey Legislature restores judicial discretion and allows the courts to determine appropriate sentences for defendants convicted for certain drug-free zone offenses. Mandatory minimums in New Jersey have filled our prisons with drug addicts instead of drug kingpins, caused the erosion of faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system because of severe racial disparities, and wasted millions without protecting public safety. New Jersey’s decision to reform this law puts it squarely in the growing list of states embracing sentencing reforms that are both tough and smart on crime.”
FAMM congratulates the prime sponsors of A-2762 and S-1866, Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen), Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City), who worked tirelessly to move the bill forward. We also applaud the families, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and advocates, whose hard work made these changes possible.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that advocates for fair and proportionate sentences. In 2003, FAMM launched a project in New Jersey to reform state mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug and drug-free zone violations. For information, visit www.famm.org or contact Monica Pratt Raffanel monica@famm.org.
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