Families Against Mandatory Minimum Sentences Needs Your Help

Did you or someone you know receive a shorter sentence because of the federal safety valve? FAMM is doing research on the safety valve and we need as many cases as possible so we can convince Congressthat more people should be eligible for fairer sentences.Please send us an email if and only if you or someone you know was convicted of a federal drug crime that carried a mandatory minimum sentence but received a sentence below the mandatory minimum term because of the safety valve. Please remember that to find someone eligible for the safety valve, the judge would have determined that a defendanthad little to no criminal background, no one was hurt during the offense, the defendant did not use a gun or violence, the defendant was not a manager/leader, etc.If you or someone you know benefited from the safety valve, please send us a BRIEF email (or have the person who received the safety valve send us an email) telling us as much of the following information as possible:

(1) What crime were you convicted of and when (if you have the case number and court you were convicted in, please share that);
(2) What mandatory minimum you would have served without the safety valve;
(3) What sentence the judge actually imposed;
(4) Whether the judge made any comments at sentencing about why a mandatory minimum would have not have been appropriate; and
(5) What you were able to do with your life because of the shorter sentence.

Also, please let us know the best way to contact you in case we have follow up questions or need more information.

We will NOT be able to respond to your emails or answer individual questions. Right now, we are ONLY collecting the information listed above. Your information is valuable to FAMM and will aid our work to reform mandatory sentencing laws.

In addition, please know that there is NO legislation pending in Congress to expand the safety valve at this time.

Thank you very much for taking the time to help us collect this information.

My best,

Julie

Julie Stewart

FAMM President

famm@famm.org