Today was a historic day in our fight for smarter sentencing laws. For the first time in the 20+ years I have been at this, the U.S. Department of Justice has admitted our arguments are right and that eliminating some mandatory minimums will make us safer. (Oh, and it will save us billions of dollars, … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. – FAMM president Julie Stewart today welcomed the U.S. Justice Department’s proposals for reforming federal criminal sentencing laws and prosecutorial charging practices. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Department’s proposed reforms in a speech to the American Bar Association today in San Francisco. “For the past 40 years, the Department of Justice, under … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. – FAMM President Julie Stewart today praised the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization comprising conservative state lawmakers from around the country, for approving model legislation to reform mandatory minimum sentencing laws. The model bill, known as Justice Safety Valve Act, would authorize judges to depart from a minimum sentence in certain … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — FAMM government affairs counsel Molly M. Gill today said that a new sentencing reform bill introduced in the U.S. Senate demonstrates growing bipartisan support for fixing federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws. The bill, S. 1410, the Smarter Sentencing Act, is sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Senate Judiciary Committee … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — FAMM President Julie Stewart released the following statement today in reaction to the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s latest Preliminary Crack Retroactivity Data report: Consider for a moment how proud members of Congress would be if they used the best available evidence and data to reform a federal program in a way that maintained all … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — FAMM government affairs counsel Molly M. Gill reacted today to news from U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that the Committee will hold a hearing on S. 619, the Justice Safety Valve Act, sponsored by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Chairman Leahy, in September 2013: “As case after case shows, … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee has approved the FY 2014 spending bill that funds the Departments of Commerce and Justice. An exciting part of the funding bill would provide $1 million for the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, a 9-member panel that would review the federal prison system’s … Read More
Read MoreGAINESVILLE, FL. — FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) Florida Project Director Greg Newburn today called on Florida lawmakers to prohibit the application of the state’s “10-20-Life” mandatory minimum gun sentence law in self-defense cases. “A lot of attention has been paid to Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law and far too little to the state’s extreme, … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — FAMM Vice President and General Counsel Mary Price today saluted the House Appropriations Committee for including language in its fiscal year (FY) 2014 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations report that urges the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to make better use of its authority to grant compassionate release to more federal prisoners. FAMM has … Read More
Read MoreWASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of more than 50 former federal prosecutors and judges today sent a letter to Capitol Hill endorsing the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013, legislation that authorizes judges to depart from a mandatory minimum sentence in cases where the minimum is not necessary to protect public safety and would be … Read More
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