Thousands of people are in prison long-term for non-violent, victim-less offenses. Pass Smarter Sentencing (SB 1410). Put an end to this egregious situation.

Underwriters of this petition support passage of the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014 (SB1040), which would commute sentences of offenders who have already spent more than five years in prison for victimless offenses retroactively.   We are deeply troubled by the large number of people accused of non-violent, victimless crimes (often drug-related), who are forced to spend the better years of their productive lives in prison. There are also numerous cases of people unfairly railroaded into pleading guilty for crimes never committed, or imprisoned to save significant others from even harsher sentences.  These situations are inexcusable. All of these people should be paroled and released from prison.

Prisons are filled beyond capacity because existing laws allow those convicted of non-violent offenses to be imprisoned for unduly long periods of time. In the struggle to pay for new prison facilities, state coffers continue to be drained. A man or woman convicted of a victimless, drug-related offense, may languish for many years in a cell that would otherwise be available for the confinement of a violent criminal who constitutes a much greater threat to civil society.

The Fair Sentencing Act signed by into law by the President in 2010, purportedly put an end to the very harshest sentencing practices, but there are still thousands of people spending ten years, twelve years, or sometimes longer in prisons for non-violent, victimless crimes committed prior to 2010. These misdeeds, when they are committed by sons and daughters of politicians or corporate CEOs moreover, are rarely subject to more than a few days of community service at most; and when they pass as mere ‘youthful indiscretions,’ and are simply ignored, no one even bats an eye. ‘Justice’ unequally administered is no true justice.

It is both a terrible waste, and utterly unacceptable that people, who are in overwhelmingly disproportionate numbers black or brown, be forced to spend long years behind bars for behaviors that, when displayed by others, are termed ‘youthful indiscretions’.

Consequently, we the undersigned believe it is critical that the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014 (SB1410 be passed by Congress and signed into law as soon as possible.