MA Senate Sentencing Bill Fails to Move Beyond Mandatory Prison Time for Drug Offenses

FAMM Expresses Serious Concerns About the Lack of Real Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 8, 2011
Contact: Barbara Dougan, (617) 543-0878

BOSTON:  Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is expressing serious concerns about the lack of real solutions in a sentencing bill that was released yesterday by the Massachusetts Senate’s Ways and Means Committee. The full Senate will debate and vote on the bill this Thursday. The bill includes some changes to mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses, which have been criticized for decades for their rigid and disproportionately harsh approach to drug offenses, but does not offer a systemic solution.

Barbara J. Dougan, FAMM’s project director in Massachusetts, states, “While the bill would shorten some mandatory sentences, the real solution is the repeal of mandatory drug sentencing laws. It makes little sense to replace lengthy mandatory sentences with less-lengthy mandatory sentences, when those sentences still fail to reflect the facts of the case or the offender’s role, prior criminal record (if any), need for addiction treatment and likelihood of rehabilitation. Under the Senate bill, the state’s ‘one size fits all’ drug sentences would simply go down a shirt size, from Extra Large to Large, even for those for whom an Extra Small is the best fit.”

“Taxpayers should not be stuck with the enormous cost of unnecessary or overly long prison sentences for those who do not require them.  With the Senate bill, drug addicts will still be sent to prison, and sometimes for a very long time, even when a shorter sentence and strictly supervised drug treatment would be more effective and cost taxpayers far less. Many other states are revising their drug sentencing laws, proving that it’s possible to protect public safety and taxpayers’ wallets at the same time.”

The bill would also allow some, but not all, drug offenders now in prison to become eligible for parole and other reentry programs. The somewhat reduced sentences for those sentenced after the bill takes effect would be used to determine which current prisoners would become eligible for parole and when. FAMM supports more substantive reforms, such as those included in the Governor’s bill, H.40. The Governor’s bill would allow drug offenders to be eligible for parole after serving half of their maximum sentences, unless they were also convicted of an offense involving guns, violence or children.  

Surprisingly, drug offenders sentenced after the bill’s enactment would continue to be denied access to parole or reentry programs. Dougan said, “We are particularly puzzled by the Senate bill’s failure to address such an important public safety issue. That takes us right back to where we started – rigid sentences that cost a bundle yet don’t allow prisoners to prepare themselves for a return to the community. The same reentry opportunities should be extended to those who are sentenced in the future.”

The bill also fails to adequately address problems with the state’s school zone law, which requires a mandatory sentence for any drug offense committed within 1,000 feet of a school, whether or not children are present, at any time of day or day of the week. It is well-documented that the school zone law creates an “urban penalty” that results in harsher sentences for urban residents than for those who commit the same offense in suburban or rural settings. The Senate bill would reduce the size of school zones by only 500 feet. This change will mainly benefit suburban and rural drug offenders, doing little to offset the impact of school zone mandatory minimums on urban communities. FAMM supports the Governor’s proposal to reduce school zones to 100 feet.

Dougan concluded, “Mandatory minimums have now been on the books in Massachusetts for 30 years.  We have three decades of evidence that our current drug sentencing policies are a failure. Regardless of the number of people who are sent to prison on a mandatory sentence, there’s no corresponding decrease in either drug offenses or drug addiction. We urge legislators to wait no longer to enact systemic sentencing reforms.”   

FAMM is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to ensure that the punishment fits the crime.  In 2008, FAMM launched a project in Massachusetts to reform state mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug and school zone offenses.  For more information on FAMM’s Massachusetts campaign, visit http://www.famm.org/StateSentencing/Massachusetts.aspx. 

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