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Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

On May 4, 2021, President Joe Biden extended class-wide scheduling of fentanyl analogues through October, making it easier to go after low-level drug dealers. Critics say it will disproportionately affect communities of color.
The Lowdown June 16, 2021
Biden Could Have Taken the War on Drugs Down a Notch. He Didn’t.
A little-noticed law could make it easier to punish people for low-level drug crimes — and put them in prison for longer with less proof.
By
Feature February 26, 2021
They’re Going Back to Prison. But They Didn’t Commit New Crimes.
A court battle over an obscure Tennessee statute freed these men from prison. Years later, they were told they must return.
By
William Otis speaking before the House Judiciary Committee Over-Criminalization Task Force in 2014.
News March 15, 2018
If You Can’t Kill It, Join It
Trump’s nominee to this panel called it “an overfed lemur.”
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Joseph Tigano was released from jail in 2017 after waiting almost seven years for a trial.
Commentary February 7, 2018
Waiting for Justice
One man’s seven-year wait for a trial reveals the ways mandatory minimums distort our courts.
Jeffrey Bellin
Robert Woodall
News June 18, 2017
He Walked Out of Prison After 11 Years — Now the State Wants Him Back
After 18 months of freedom, Robert Woodall may be headed back behind bars.
By
Analysis February 12, 2016
Justice Reform, RIP?
The vaunted bipartisan drive to enact federal criminal justice reform is not quite dead. But its pulse is faint.
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David Perdue, R-Ga., center, voted against the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 last month.
Analysis November 6, 2015
The Dissenters
Not everybody is aboard the criminal justice reform bandwagon. Here’s why.
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News July 23, 2015
Federal Prisons Could Release 1,000 Times More Drug Offenders Than Obama Did
New, retroactive sentencing guidelines begin to kick in.
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Analysis July 22, 2015
The Nonviolent Offenders Congress Forgot
While prison reform gains momentum, the immigration debate remains “tough on crime.”
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President Barack Obama delivering the State of the Union address in 2011.
News January 20, 2015
‘My Fellow Americans’
Reimagining the president's State of the Union speech.
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