A glimpse of the future?

, drugpolicy.org

WCL NEWS—US Representatives Raul Labrador (R-ID) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would significantly reform mandatory minimum drug sentencing policies. The bill, which was introduced as S.1410 in the Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) in July, would cut the length of some mandatory minimum drug sentences by half and expand access to the existing safety valve for federal drug offenders. It would also afford retroactivity for the Fair Sentencing Act, which was signed into law in 2010 to reduce the disparity in crack and powder cocaine sentences.

“Mandatory minimum sentencing is a costly and counterproductive cookie-cutter approach that removes a judge’s ability to apply a fairer sentence,” said Jasmine Tyler, deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “At a time when Congress can’t agree on anything, members in both chambers – and on both sides of the aisle – are stepping up efforts to address mass incarceration. From the White House to Congress, there is a growing consensus that mandatory minimums are an abject failure, wasting billions of tax dollars and destroying communities.”

According to the US Sentencing Commission and a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, mandatory minimums have significantly contributed to overcrowding and racial disparities in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). As of 2013, the BOP operates at nearly 140% capacity and is on track to use one-third of the Justice Department’s budget. More than half of the prisoners in the BOP are serving time for a drug law violation.

With less than 5% of the world’s population, but nearly 25% of the world’s prison population, the US leads the world in the incarceration of its own citizens. Research has shown that nonviolent, low-level drug offenders have contributed significantly to the dramatic rise in incarceration in the last four decades. And a 2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union revealed vast racial disparities in the enforcement of US drug laws, finding that blacks were 3.75 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes than their white counterparts, despite evidence that the two groups use drugs at similar rates.

“I am honored to join Congressman Labrador as a cosponsor of the Smarter Sentencing Act,” said Rep. Scott. “Granting federal judges more discretion in sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses is the right thing to do. Studies of mandatory minimums conclude that they fail to reduce crime, they waste the taxpayers’ money, and they often require the imposition of sentences that violate common sense. This bipartisan bill targets particularly egregious mandatory minimums and returns discretion to federal judges in an incremental manner. This legislation is an important step in updating sentencing policies that are not working, that are costing taxpayers too much, and that do nothing to make our families and communities safer.”

Support for mandatory minimum sentencing reform is not limited to the legislative branch of the federal government. In July 2013, before the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in San Francisco, Attorney General Eric Holder announced new guidance directing federal prosecutors to circumvent the quantity reporting which triggers automatic minimum sentences. The move, which drew warm praise from drug policy reformers, trial lawyers and civil liberties watchdogs alike, was the first major mandatory minimum sentencing reform successfully implemented by the Obama administration since the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act reduced the sentence disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

A turning point? The following timeline depicts how momentum to reform mandatory minimums has picked up steam in recent years: