125th Morrison Congress

2nd Session

H.R. 125-0

Title of the Bill: Mandatory Minimum Reduction Act

Main Author(s): Rep. Karissa Kimble (R-OH) Rep. Abigail Fusca (R-NC)

Co-Sponsor(s): Sen. Claire Cagwin (R-NC)

BE IT ENACTED BY THE MORRISON CONGRESS

1 SECTION 1: Findings
2 Congress makes the following findings:
3 1) Mandatory minimums often impose ridiculously long sentences for crimes (i)
4 2) Longer jail time does not mean better behavior and does not mean people
5 are kept safer (ii)
6 3) Long jail time caused a clog in the federal jail system (iii)
7 4) 85% of federal drug offense prisoners are locked up for nonviolent drug
8 offenses (iv)
9 5) Taxpayers are spending over $60 billion on prisons and jails alone (iii)
10 6) Since the mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes was created, the
11 federal prison population has grown from 24,000 prisoners to over 214,000
12 prisoners the largest prison system in the country.
13
SECTION 2: Purpose
14
This bills purpose is to reduce the mandatory minimum of prison time that is served
15
for having possession of cocaine to six months for having a half a kilo or more of
16 cocaine and three months for less than a half a kilo.
17
18 SECTION 3: General Provisions
19 1. It will reduce the chance of bias from judges when it comes to cocaine cases
20 by forcing them to enforce a minimum for being in possession of that certain
21 drug.
22 2. It will reduce the jail time to six months for a kilo and a half or more and three
23 months for less than a half a kilo.
24 3. The judge will still have the power to look at an issue case-by-case if he/she
25 doesnt believe the mandatory minimum will suffice as a punishment.
26 4. Hopefully by doing this, we will reduce the rate of crime and money spent on
27 imprisoning Americans.
28 5. It will raise awareness for how much time people spend in prison for simply
29 having possession of drugs.
30
31 SECTION 4: Definitions
32 1. Mandatory minimum - a fixed jail sentence that is given out during court
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Works Cited:
I. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB6003.html
II. https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/mandatory-minimum-penalties-drug-
offenses-federal-system
III. http://famm.org/sentencing-101/the-facts/
IV. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20639737