Drug Mandatory Minimum Sentences - FAMM

Drug Mandatory Minimum Sentences

In 2010, the U.S. Congress passed historic, bipartisan legislation repealing a mandatory minimum sentence for the first time since the Nixon Administration and reforming the infamous 100-to-one ratio between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. FAMM supported that reform, the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA). Prior to the enactment of the FSA, it took 100 times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine to receive the same five-, 10-, or 20-year mandatory minimum prison term. The FSA changed this so-called “100-to-one” disparity to a disparity of 18-to-one. The law also abolished a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine.  The law produces fairer sentences for approximately 2,000 federal crack offenders each year.

In response to the reform, the U.S. Sentencing Commission altered the crack cocaine sentencing guidelines to reflect the new 18-to-one ratio, and it made these guideline changes retroactive. More than 7,700 federal prisoners received sentence reductions based on the retroactive changes to the crack guidelines. The U.S. Sentencing Commission also reduced crack sentences for about 16,500 offenders in 2007. A recent study found that those who received retroactive crack sentence reductions in 2007 reoffended at slightly lower rates than crack offenders who served longer sentences. This shows that making crack sentencing reforms retroactive does not increase crime or endanger the public.

Current Drug Mandatory Minimum Legislation

The Problem: The FSA was a compromise measure that did not correct all the injustices of the crack-powder disparity.  The FSA’s alterations to crack mandatory minimum sentences were not made retroactive – something only Congress can do, by passing legislation.  This has left thousands of federal crack cocaine offenders in prison today serving mandatory minimum terms that Congress, the President, and the country have now repudiated as unfair and racially discriminatory.  Additionally, the FSA’s 18-to-one ratio does not reflect the fact that crack and powder cocaine are the same drug in different forms, and that crack cocaine crimes are still punished more harshly than powder cocaine offenses.

Solutions:

  1. Make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive, so that it applies to all federal prisoners still serving mandatory minimum sentences under the old, 100-to-1 ratio
  2. Reform the crack-powder cocaine mandatory minimum sentences to reflect a ratio of 1-to-1, rather than 18-to-1.

There have been numerous efforts in Congress to make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive and to eliminate the 18-to-1 disparity. FAMM supports these reforms and hopes that they will be passed in Congress.