Media contact: Mike Riggs, mriggs@famm.org
More than 12,000 federal prisoners have applied for re-sentencing under All Drugs Minus Two, and nearly 10,000 have been granted shorter sentences, according to data released today by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
These shorter sentences are the result of All Drugs Minus Two (formally known as Amendment 782), which lowered the federal sentencing guideline ranges for all drug quantities by two levels. After a strong campaign from FAMM and its members, and many others in the legal community and Congress, the Commission passed the amendment in April 2014, and made the new guidelines retroactive in July 2014. The impact of these reforms can’t be understated.
The Commission reports that, as of, the end of May
- 12,056 prisoners have asked the court to reduce their prison terms under drugs minus two.
- Of them, 9,535 (almost 80%) requests have been granted (2,521 have been denied)
On average, current sentences of 130 months were reduced by 17.5% to 107 months. That’s an average reduction of 23 months, almost 2 years!
Prisoners who applied but did not receive a reduction were denied for a variety of reasons including:
- Their crime did not involve drugs
- They were sentenced as Career Offenders or Armed Career Criminals (in other words, their sentence was not based on the drug guideline) or
- Their sentence would not change, among others.
- A very small number are being denied on the basis of “protection of the public.”
Learn more about All Drugs Minus Two.