Commission to FAMM: Tell us what you think
The United States Sentencing Commission invited FAMM’s Julie Stewart to testify at a hearing in Washington, D.C. on mandatory minimums on May 27. Click here to view the agenda for the hearing, which begins at 8:30 am.
The hearing will bring a variety of witnesses together to share their views on mandatory sentencing and help the Commission complete work on a report on mandatory minimums due to Congress no later than October 2010. The last and only report from the Commission on mandatory minimums was published in1991, the same year FAMM was founded.
FAMM has been asking the Commission for just such a report for a number
of years. We urged the Commission to update its first report which found that mandatory minimums result in unwarranted sentencing disparity and unwarranted sentencing uniformity; frustrate transparency of proceedings because prosecutors manipulate charging to secure plea agreements; undermine certainty of application and punishment, and result in racial disparity.
In the 20 years since that first report, a number of things have changed that affect mandatory minimums. For example, many mandatory minimums have been added to the federal criminal code. With FAMM’s help, the safety valve was adopted, directing judges to waive the mandatory minimum sentence for qualified defendants. And in 2005, the Supreme Court handed down the Booker decision, transforming the sentencing guidelines from mandatory to advisory.
In her testimony, Julie will tell the Commission to continue its steadfast opposition to mandatory minimums, and provide stories of our members serving mandatory minimum sentences that show how much damage one-size-fits-all sentencing can do.
We will report on the hearing and provide Julie’s testimony here.