{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1933-115/featured_smarter-sentencing-act-of-2017-1515804870.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s1933-115/featured_large_smarter-sentencing-act-of-2017-1515804870.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s1933-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2017-10-05","title_override":"Reducing the Minimum Time Non-Violent Drug Offenders Have to Serve in Federal Prisons","summary_override":"

This bill — known as the Smarter Sentencing Act — would reduce the mandatory minimums in federal drug sentencing policies, giving federal judges more options when sentencing people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.

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

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

Mandatory minimums under the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act would be lowered for \"drug mules\"\n from 10 years to five for a first conviction, and from 20 years to 10 \nfor a second conviction. For convictions involving mules of smaller \namounts of illegal drugs, the mandatory minimum would be lowered from \nfive years to two for a first offense, and from 10 years to five for a \nsecond offense.

Under this bill, the U.S. Sentencing Commission would have to review and change its sentencing guidelines to:

Ensure that prison populations don’t exceed capacity,
While considering the fiscal and public safety implications of these changes,
And reduce racial disparities in Federal sentencing.

","official_title":"A bill to focus limited Federal resources on the most serious offenders.","short_title":"Smarter Sentencing Act of 2017","popular_title":null,"short_summary":null,"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. 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Reducing the Minimum Time Non-Violent Drug Offenders Have to Serve in Federal Prisons