Failed to pass both houses, will not become law this session
Mandatory minimums have been a hallmark of mass incarceration in the United States for decades, and they've been used to impose excessively harsh sentences, exacerbate racial disparities and preclude judicial discretion by not allowing judges to take into account the individual circumstances of a case when making a sentencing decision.
Automatically requiring anyone charged with felony gun possession to serve five years in prison – without even considering whether they actually pose a risk to public safety – is misguided, not based in evidence, and out of step with the rest of our sentencing statutes.
Mandatory minimums have not been shown to reduce crime, but what they have done is fuel a devastating incarceration crisis that continues to ravage the US, a disaster that disproportionately impacts Black, Brown, and Native communities.
