Mandatory Minimum Sentences (excerpt from Drugpolicy.org "What's Wrong With the War on Drugs?")

In 1986 Congress enacted mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which force judges to deliver fixed sentences to individuals convicted of a crime, regardless of culpability or other mitigating factors. Federal mandatory drug sentences are determined based on three factors: the type of drug, weight of the drug mixture (or alleged weight in conspiracy cases), and the number of prior convictions. Judges are unable to consider other important factors such as the offender's role, motivation, and the likelihood of recidivism. Only by providing the prosecutor with "substantial assistance", (information that aids the government in prosecuting other offenders) may defendants reduce their mandatory sentences. This creates huge incentives for people charged with drug offenses to provide false information in order to receive a shorter sentence.

Although Congress intended mandatory sentences to target "king pins" and managers in drug distribution networks, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reports that only 5.5 percent of all federal crack cocaine defendants and 11 percent of federal drug defendants are high-level drug dealers. This is because the most culpable defendants are also the defendants who are in the best position to provide prosecutors with enough information to obtain sentence reductions - the only way to reduce a mandatory sentence. Low-level offenders, such as drug mules or street dealers, often end up serving longer sentences because they have little or no information to provide the government.


H.R. 1466 is a bill currently before US Congress that would remove mandatory minimum sentences from minor drug offenses and concentrate federal resources on major drug offenses instead. 

Mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offenses have a profound effect on American families.  Currently there are around a million children separated from their parents who are incarcerated in federal prison for minor, non-violent drug offenses.  The video you see here is from the ACLU "Drug Wars" documentary that tells a shocking story of our federal drug policies, how they're enforced, and the casualties of this failed war. 

Please sign this petition in support of H.R. 1466, and let your legislators know this issue is important to you.