Mary Price

Mary Price is General Counsel of FAMM. She directs the FAMM Litigation Project and advocates for reform of federal sentencing and corrections law and policy before Congress, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice.

Ms. Price was a founder of Clemency Project 2014, serving on its Steering, Screening and Resource committees. She is a member of and Special Advisor to the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, is a member of its Sentencing Committee, serves on the ABA’s Sentencing Standards Task Force, and was a member of the Task Force on the Reform of Federal Sentencing for Economic Crimes. Previously, she served on the Practitioners’ Advisory Group to the United States Sentencing Commission. She is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and serves on its First Step Implementation Task Force. Ms. Price is a founder of the Compassionate Release Clearinghouse, a joint project of FAMM, NACDL, and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

Ms. Price’s expertise on federal sentencing law and policy has led to media interviews and guest slots on national outlets such as the PBS NewsHour, MSNBC’s Up with Steve Kornacki, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, HuffPost Live, and The Diane Rehm Show, among others. She is frequently interviewed and quoted in national print and on-line media. Her op-eds and articles have been published in a variety of outlets including Forbes, the National Law Journal, Huffington Post, the Federal Sentencing Reporter and Main Justice. She has appeared on academic and conference panels addressing issues such as the economics of sentencing reform, compassionate release in the federal Bureau of Prisons, and white collar sentencing. She has testified on numerous occasions before the United States Sentencing Commission on reforms to the federal sentencing guidelines.

She was honored in 2019 by NACDL with its Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award for her work on clemency and compassionate release.

Prior to joining FAMM, Ms. Price was associated with the law firm of Feldesman, Tucker, Leifer, Fidell & Bank, LLP where she handled appeals of courts martial and conducted administrative advocacy on behalf of U.S. service members.

Ms. Price graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and the Law Center’s first recipient of the Bettina Pruckmayr Human Rights Award. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon. Ms. Price joined the staff of FAMM in late 2000.

Mary Price’s Published Work

• “Weaponizing Justice: Mandatory Minimums, the Trial Penalty, and the Purposes of Punishment,” 31 Federal Sentencing Reporter, 4 & 5: 309 (April, June 2019). Article.
• Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States, FAMM Report (June 2018). Report.
• Testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission, Synthetic Drugs (March 14, 2018). Testimony.
• Testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission, Compassionate Release (February 17, 2016). Testimony.
• Forbes, September 24, 2014: “Wanting A Trial By Jury Is Not A Crime. So Why Do We Treat It Like One?” Op-Ed
• New York Times, September 15, 2014: “White Collar Sentences.” Letter-to-the-editor.
• Miller(ing) Mandatory Minimums:  What Federal Lawmakers Should Take From Miller v. Alabama, Volume 78 Missouri Law Review 1147 (Fall 2013). Article.
• FAMM/Human Rights Watch report, “The Answer Is No: Too Little Compassionate Release in US Prisons” (2012). Report.
• Bureau of National Affairs, Criminal Law Report, “Highlights and Lowlights From the New Report On Mandatory Minimums From the U.S. Sentencing Commission,” article by Mary Price & James Felman, 2012
• Huffington Post, September 24, 2012: “Sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin.” Op-Ed
• Movie: Unjustified (2012)
• Testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission, February 15, 2012: Federal Sentencing After Booker. Testimony
• MainJustice, November 22, 2011: “It’s Not the Judges.” Op–Ed
• National Law Journal, July 25, 2011, “Out of Control Fraud Guidelines.” Op-Ed
• Written Testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, October 12, 2011, The Status of Federal Sentencing and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Six Years After Booker. Testimony
• Testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission, March 17, 2011: Proposed Drug Amendments. Testimony
• Testimony to Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Canada, October 28, 2009, Mandatory Minimums in the United States.  Testimony
• Testimony before the United States Sentencing Commission, March 20, 2007: Compassionate Release. National Teleconference following release of Booker v. United States, January 25, 2005. Transcript.
• Federal Sentencing Reporter, June 2006, Firearm Offenses, “Model Sentencing Guidelines.”  Article
• Federal Sentencing Reporter, “A Case for Compassion,” Vol. 21 No. 3: 170 (February 2009). Article
• Federal Sentencing Reporter, “The Other Safety Valve: Sentencing Reduction Motions under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), Vol. 18 No. 5: 346 (June 2006). Article
• Federal Sentencing Reporter, “Firearms Offenses: Model Sentencing Guidelines §2F1,” Vol. 18 No. 5: 346 (June 2006). Article
• “Sentencing Reform: Eliminating Mandatory Minimums, Easing Harsh Sentencing Structures and Building ‘Smart-on-Crime Solutions,’” 28 Champion 18 (2004).  Article