Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws require judges to impose fixed sentences for particular crimes, usually drug infractions. In the following viewpoint, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), an organization dedicated to reforming the mandatory minimum sentencing laws, argues that inflexible mandatory minimum sentences are excessive and are used too frequently against low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. The safety valve provisions, which are supposed to prevent these small-time drug offenders from receiving excessively harsh sentences, are too narrowly drawn to help them, FAMM asserts. The organization maintains that mandatory minimums, which were designed to deter people from engaging in illegal drug activity, have very little effect in the war on drugs.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Which two states have the strictest mandatory minimum sentencing laws, according to FAMM?
2. What two factors...