My husband, a loving father of three, was charged with possession of a firearm due to an unfortunate incident where he attempted to save me from a rifle malfunction that I could not secure on my own. We were in a remote area with no one else around to help so he came to my call of desperation. Despite his actions being driven by the instinct to protect his family, the law did not distinguish between his non-violent act of heroism, and those committed by repeat felons.

 At age 17, my husband broke into a shipping container while addicted to opioids which gained him his felony. Since that moment he has entirely reformed his life and has been clean for 16 years. A shining example of rehabilitation. A family man who offers his time to help others struggling with their own sobriety. He runs a 5 star carpentry company with his integrity earning him clients like the Hannity family, the Trump family, and the Coca-Cola family. My husband is not a criminal. He now faces a mandatory minimum sentence away from his children for what can only be described as a victimless crime. My husband has been our main provider and only source of income for the past 13 years, now we are lost.

Our story is not unique. There are thousands of non-violent, reformed felons who are subjected to harsh penalties because our local and state legal system fails to differentiate between reformed citizens of our community, and repeat offenders when it comes to convicted felons. According to The Sentencing Project, over 1.3 million people in U.S prisons are serving sentences for non-violent crimes (source: The Sentencing Project). This one-size-fits-all approach is unjust, tearing families apart and punishing individuals disproportionately.

Our state and local courts need flexibility to tailor each sentence to fit the special facts and circumstances of each person through "The First Step Act". Our state and local courts need the power to use alternatives other than prison. Our courts need the ability to reserve long sentences and expensive prison cells for those who pose the greatest danger to us. Without "The First Step Act", our local courts’ hands are tied.

Mandatory minimum sentences make us less safe by wasting money and public safety resources on the wrong people. People do need to be held accountable for crimes, but mandatory minimum sentences produce absurd and unjust results that diminish respect for our justice system. I hope you’ll oppose these sentences and support the "First Step Act" to be used in local and state courts for situations like mine.

We call upon lawmakers to amend this legislation. We need laws that reflect the complexity of individual circumstances rather than blanket policies that fail those they should protect.

Please sign this petition if you believe in justice, fairness, and proportionality in our legal system. Your signature could help keep families like mine together.