FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 16, 2020
CONTACT:
Logan Elizabeth Padgett
(850) 386-3131
Joint Statement on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Unanimous Passage of Criminal Justice Reform
TALLAHASSEE- As the conservative coalition for practical criminal justice reform, we applaud Senator Rob Bradley and the Senate Appropriations Committee for unanimously approving a meaningful criminal justice reform package today, including a safety valve to restore some judicial discretion in drug sentencing. This safety value will give judges better options to address the challenges of addiction and offer alternatives for judges to do what they are employed to do- judge. Mandatory sentencing laws were adopted in the 1970s to reduce drug-related crime, but have failed to achieve their goals while creating significant negative unintended consequences. Florida spends $106 million annually incarcerating thousands of drug offenders serving mandatory minimum sentences – many are low-level, nonviolent, and even first-time offenders struggling with substance abuse problems of their own. It is both wise and practical for Florida to follow numerous other conservative states and reform our mandatory minimum sentencing laws in ways that will both improve public safety and promote better use of taxpayer dollars. We commend the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee and look forward the Florida Legislature’s further consideration of this vital policy reform as they move through the 2020 session.
Sal Nuzzo
The James Madison Institute
Greg Newburn
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Chelsea Murphy
Right on Crime
Skylar Zander
Americans for Prosperity- FL
