FAMM is promoting federal mandatory minimum sentencing reforms and prison reforms in the 115th Congress, which begins on January 3, 2017, and runs until December 31, 2018.
As reform bills are introduced in Congress, FAMM’s summaries and positions on them will be posted below.
We stand ready to help members of Congress on the following kinds of sentencing and prison reforms:
FAMM supports “safety valves,” an exception to mandatory minimum sentencing laws. A safety valve allows a judge to sentence a person below the mandatory minimum term if certain conditions are met.
- Justice Safety Valve Act – H.R. 2435 / S. 1134 (115th Congress)
- SAFE Justice Act – H.R. 4261 (115th Congress)
- Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act – S. 1917 (115th Congress)
- Smarter Sentencing Act – S. 1933 (115th Congress)
FAMM supports removing mandatory minimum sentences from the federal code.
- Mandatory Minimum Reform Act – H.R. 3800 (115th Congress)
FAMM supports fixing flaws in 18 U.S.C. section 924(c)’s mandatory minimum sentences for gun possession offenses.
- Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act – S. 1917 (115th Congress)
- SAFE Justice Act – H.R. 4261 (115th Congress)
FAMM supports early release for elderly prisoners, who cost more and reoffend less than younger ones.
- Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act – S. 1917 (115th Congress)
- SAFE Justice Act – H.R. 4261 (115th Congress)
- Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent Offender Relief Act of 2017 – H.R. 64 (115th Congress)
- CORRECTIONS Act – S. 1944 (115th Congress)
FAMM supports making the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010’s reforms to crack cocaine mandatory minimum punishments retroactive, and eliminating the existing disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences.
- Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act – S. 1917 (115th Congress)
- Smarter Sentencing Act – S. 1933 (115th Congress)
- SAFE Justice Act – H.R. 4261 (115th Congress)
FAMM supports giving federal prisoners recidivism-reducing job and vocational training, education, and mental health and drug treatment while they are in prison. We believe prisoners should get incentives for working toward their own rehabilitation, including sentence reductions. FAMM also supports policies that keep prisoners close to and connected with their families during prison and give them meaningful reentry assistance at halfway houses.
- Read FAMM’s report on prison reform: Using Time to Reduce Crime
- Prison Reform and Redemption Act – H.R. 3356 (115th Congress)
- Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act – S. 1917 (115th Congress)
- Dignity Act – S. 1534 (115th Congress)
- CORRECTIONS Act – S. 1994 (115th Congress)
- SAFE Justice Act – H.R. 4261 (115th Congress)
FAMM wants to ensure that all offenders get sentences that fit, so we oppose all bills that create or expand mandatory minimum sentences, like these:
- Kate’s Law – H.R. 361 / S. 45 (115th Congress)
- Back the Blue Act – H.R. 2437 / S. 1134 (115th Congress)
- SITSA Act – H.R. 2851 (115th Congress)
- Comprehensive Fentanyl Control Act – H.R. 1781 (115th Congress)
- Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017 – H.R. 1761 (115th Congress)
- SECURE Act – S. 2192 (115th Congress)
Resources for Congressional staff:
To change federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the U.S. Congress must pass new legislation. To help sentencing reform bills become law, FAMM meets regularly with Members of Congress and their staffs and provides them with data, resources, analysis and advice, stories of impacted people, and assistance with drafting reforms. When asked, FAMM and its supporters testify before Congress and its committees. Get involved to support our reform efforts today!
To become a law, a sentencing reform bill must first be introduced by a Member of Congress, then reviewed by the Judiciary Committee, passed by both Houses of Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate), and signed by the President. This can be a lengthy and difficult process. Sometimes, reform bills do not become law for several years. Each session of Congress lasts two years. Any bill that does not become a law in that two-year period “dies” at the end of that time – which means the process to make that bill a law has to start all over again from scratch in the next Congress. Our current Congress is in session until December 31, 2018. Learn more about how a bill becomes a law.