Justice:

Criminal Injustice System:

Mandatory Minimums

A growing number of citizens believe mandatory minimum sentencing laws are unfair. Here is some background information from Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM):

"During the 1970s and 1980s, Congress and many state legislatures passed mandatory minimum sentencing laws that force judges to hand out fixed sentences, without parole, to people convicted of certain crimes.

Mandatory sentences must be imposed regardless of a person's role in the crime or other mitigating factors. Prosecutors, not judges, have the discretion to decide what charges to bring, whether to accept or deny a plea bargain, to reward or deny a defendant's "substantial assistance" or cooperation, and ultimately, to determine what the final sentence will be.

The only way a judge can sentence below a mandatory minimum is if the defendant provides "substantial assistance" or cooperation in the prosecution of someone else. Even then, prosecutors, not judges, determine whether the substantial assistance is valuable enough to warrant a reduction in sentence."

- Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) [source]