{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr920-114/featured_smarter-sentencing-act-of-2015-1454547508.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr920-114/featured_large_smarter-sentencing-act-of-2015-1454547508.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr920-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-02-12","title_override":"Should Federal Mandatory Minimums Be Reduced for Non-Violent Drug Offenders?","summary_override":"

This bill would reduce mandatory minimums in federal drug sentencing, giving federal judges more discretion when sentencing people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.

The mandatory minimum set forth in the Controlled Substances Act for a conviction related to the manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute certain drugs in specified amounts would be lowered from 10 years to five years. If death or serious bodily harm occurs from the drug’s use, the mandatory minimum would be lowered from 20 years to 10 years.

For first convictions, the mandatory minimum would be lowered from five years to two years, and dropped from 20 years to 10 years for a second conviction. If a person had two or more felony drug convictions before their next conviction, the mandatory minimum would be dropped from life imprisonment to 25 years.

Mandatory minimums under the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act would be lowered for drug couriers from 10 years to five for a first conviction, and from 20 years to 10 for a second conviction. For convictions involving couriers of smaller amounts of illegal drugs, the mandatory minimum would be lowered from five years to two for a first offense, and from 10 years to five for a second offense.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission would be directed to review and change its sentencing guidelines to:

Ensure that prison populations don’t exceed capacity;
Consider the fiscal and public safety implications of these changes;
Reduce racial disparities in Federal sentencing.

","official_title":"To focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders.","short_title":"Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015\n\n Amends the federal criminal code to direct the court to impose a sentence for specified controlled substance offenses without regard to any statutory minimum sentence if the court finds that the criminal history category for the defendant is not higher than category two. (Currently, the court may disregard the statutory minimum if the defendant does not have more than one criminal history point.)\n\nAuthorizes a court that imposed a sentence for a crack cocaine possession or trafficking offense committed before August 3, 2010, on motion of the defendant, the Bureau of Prisons, the attorney for the government, or the court, to impose a reduced sentence as if provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 were in effect at the time such offense was committed, provided such sentence was not previously imposed or reduced under such Act or such a motion wasn't previously denied.\n\nAmends the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the Controlled Substances Import and...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A current CBO cost estimate is unavailable. In January 2014, the CBO estimated this bill’s predecessor (in the 113th Congress), finding that it would reduce DOJ spending by $4 billion over the 2015-2024 period. However, because eligible prisoners would be released sooner and be able to receive federal benefits, there would be an increase in spending of about $1 billion over that same period — leading to a net savings of about $3 billion.","impact":"People convicted of low-level, non-violent drug offenses, their families and communities, federal judges, the DOJ, the Attorney General.","argument_for":"It doesn’t make sense to imprison low-level, non-violent drug offenders for years, or even decades considering how overcrowded the prison system already is. The U.S. corrections system should be focusing its resources on violent threats to the public.","argument_against":"Drugs ruin people’s lives, and those who make and distribute drugs need to be incarcerated as they pose a clear threat to public safety. 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Should Federal Mandatory Minimums Be Reduced for Non-Violent Drug Offenders?