Dear FAMMily,
Last month, we wrote to you about updates from the United States Sentencing Commission’s 2025 amendment cycle. Among other changes, the Commission adopted an amendment that will reduce the sentence for certain low-level drug defendants.
Right now, a judge can lower a sentence by anywhere from two to four levels if the person was a minor or minimal participant in the drug crime. The Commission just added a new adjustment.
Specifically, it would amend the drug guidelines so that:
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If a defendant received a “mitigating role adjustment,” because they were a “minimal” or “minor” participant, and their base offense level is above 34, their offense level will be capped at 32.
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If a defendant is considered a “minimal participant,” received a four-level mitigating role adjustment, and has a base offense level higher than 30, their offense level would be capped at 30.
Whenever the Commission lowers a guideline sentence, it must decide whether to make that change retroactive so that a person serving the old sentence can ask the court to reduce it. The Commission asked its staff to analyze the impact of making these mitigating role changes retroactive. And the impact is significant!
If these changes were made retroactive, the Commission estimates that 67 people might be eligible for immediate release. And within three years, an estimated 450 more people might be eligible for early release. You can read these numbers and more in the Commission’s report, found here.
Decisions on retroactivity can be among the most controversial at the Commission. Why? Because in our criminal justice system, there is a heavy hand on the scale of the finality of a sentence. Some argue that releasing people early in circumstances like this undermines the finality of a sentence. But we disagree.
We believe that sentences should reflect the law and practices that are most current. And when the law and practices change, and people’s sentences would be lower if they were sentenced today, people should get the benefit of those changes. Otherwise, we keep people in prison for sentences that we recognize are too long.
Your opinion can really help sway the Commission to vote to make these amendments retroactive and allow low-level drug defendants the chance at an early release!
We have drafted a template for you to weigh in. That template can be found below. Remember that it is always great to add in your own personal story!
Comments are due to the Commission by June 2. You can submit your comments by visiting the comment portal here, https://www.ussc.gov/policymaking/public-comment, and clicking “submission portal.”
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Dear Judge Reeves,
I am writing to urge that the Commission vote to make Subparts 1 and 2 of Part A of the Drug Offenses Amendment retroactive.
For many years, the Commission has heard from stakeholders that the drug guidelines, largely driven by drug quantity, often result in sentences that are greater than necessary. The Commission’s data supports this criticism. The 2025 amendments will reduce the sentences for certain future drug defendants, resulting in more fair guideline ranges. But many people are serving lengthy prison sentences based on the old calculation. There is no reason to deny the court a chance to reassess their sentences in light of the mitigating role amendments.
Welcoming our community members and loved ones home a little early will have a tremendous impact on people in prison and those of us on the outside who count down the days until their release.
Allowing people to seek a reduced sentence based on the changes that the Commission made will also help ameliorate decades-long injustices in the drug guidelines.
We urge you to make these amendments retroactive.
Sincerely,
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