Ending mandatory minimums is long overdue. Families Against Mandatory Minimums is the national activist group that has worked specifically to removing mandatory minimum sentencing. They are supported by a long list of organizations fighting for civil liberties, ending the drug war, prison reform, and fiscal responsibility.
It is heartening to see this thoughtful editorial by Douglas Berman and Harlan Protass in the Wall Street Journal.
We just lament that this is not the end of the road for those non-violent marijuana offenders who are serving sentences of Life without Parole in the federal system for selling marijuana.
These inmates will get relief only from retroactive legislation or Presidential Commutation. We hope this is a giant step forward.
'Mandatory minimum' laws need an overhaul. Congress is ready. Will the president make good on his promises?
There are few topics
on which leading Democratic and Republican voices agree these days. But
the recently introduced Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013—which would
authorize federal judges to impose prison terms below statutory
mandatory minimums in some cases—represents a new bipartisan effort at
addressing America's overcrowded prisons and bloated budget. Passage of
the act, though, will depend on President Obama and his Justice
Department getting behind it.
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