Dear FAMMily,
The 2025-2026 United States Sentencing Commission amendment cycle is upon us! On June 9, 2025, the Commission published its proposed priorities. This is the Commission’s way of receiving stakeholder input on the issues they plan to prioritize this amendment cycle. Many of these proposals will seem familiar to you because they were considered in the last amendment cycle. Three of the proposals that FAMM will be weighing in on are summarized below:
1. The Career Offender Guideline
The Commission continues to examine the career offender designation, which imposes enhanced penalties on individuals with certain prior convictions. We hope that the Commission will evaluate ways to reduce the impact of the career offender designation on individuals. One way to minimize the impact of this guideline might be to limit the prior offenses that trigger the enhanced punishment.
2. Methamphetamine Sentences
In 2024, the Commission issued a report related to sentences for methamphetamine offenses. Those sentences are some of the highest among all drug offenses. The Commission’s own report showed that the driving forces behind these long sentences (meth purity distinctions) are outdated. The Commission is considering whether to prioritize amendments to address the outdated purity distinction in meth offenses.
3. The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Role in Meeting the Purposes of Punishment
The commission is interested in reviewing the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP) role in sentencing and punishment. This could include considering policies that address overcrowding at BOP, access to programs and meaningful education while in custody, among other things.
What can you do to influence the Commission’s priorities this year? Weigh in on their proposals!
You can comment on the three listed above, any others the Commission has proposed (you can find the full list here, https://www.ussc.gov/policymaking/federal-register-notices/federal-register-notice-proposed-2025-2026-priorities), or you can propose your own priorities for the Commission to consider.
The Commission is accepting public comment on its proposed priorities through July 18, 2025. To submit your comment, visit https://www.ussc.gov/policymaking/public-comment and click “Submission Portal.”
Below is a template that you can use to write to the Commission. Feel free to personalize this! Personalizing your message by sharing your story with the Commission helps illustrate what is at stake with these policy considerations.
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Dear Judge Reeves,
I am writing to comment on the Commission’s proposed priorities for the 2025-2026 amendment cycle.
Methamphetamine sentences are extraordinarily high, in part because of outdated purity distinctions. In light of the Commission’s own research, I urge the Commission to reimagine meth sentences. The current meth guideline sentences do not accurately reflect the present-day reality of meth trafficking offenses. As a result, too many people are sentenced to unnecessarily long terms of imprisonment for these offenses.
For the past few years, the Commission has considered amendments to the Career Offender guideline. And for good reason. This guideline imposes harsh enhancements on many individuals whose crimes simply do not fit the punishment. The “career offender” designation was meant to target serial recidivists, but for too long, it has swept in people who are simply not “career criminals.”
Finally, I am deeply concerned about the state of the BOP. From overcrowding, to crumbling infrastructure, to persistent lockdowns, BOP cannot handle the population it currently has. The Commission should consider whether the guidelines can help to ensure that people do not serve more time than necessary in BOP.
I hope that any proposals the Commission considers will reduce the number of people serving lengthy terms of imprisonment that do not fit the purposes of punishment.
