WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, participated in a roundtable discussion with advocates from the legal, religious, civil rights, and law enforcement communities in the Capitol on Wednesday focused on sentencing reform. Delaware Public Defender Brendan O’Neill was among the participants and briefed senators on the steps Delaware has taken to reduce the severity of mandatory minimum sentences.
“Every American has the right to a criminal justice system that imposes fair criminal penalties according to the facts of each case,” Senator Coons said. “Mandatory minimum sentencing jeopardizes that right by trading judicial discretion for one-size-fits-all, arbitrary sentencing requirements that are unnecessarily punitive and have not improved public safety. Data-driven analysis of our federal criminal justice system, including sentencing and corrections policies, is essential to curb skyrocketing prison populations and costs. Reducing these costs will help to ensure funding is available for effective safety programs in our communities.”
Reassessing federal sentencing requirements is not simply a criminal justice issue, but also a civil rights crisis that must be addressed. Despite the fact that more than two-thirds of crack cocaine users in the U.S. are white or Hispanic, African American offenders have historically made up more than 80 percent of the offenders sentenced under the federal crack cocaine laws, and have served substantially more time in prison for drug offenses compared to whites.
Delaware Public Defender Brendan O’Neill called the state’s old mandatory minimum sentencing “a failure” and shared the effects the policy had on Delaware’s criminal justice system. In addition to limiting judicial discretion and giving prosecution disproportionate leverage in the plea negotiation process, the policy also raised the stakes of going to trial to irrationally high levels. As a consequence, defendants who may have been innocent often pled guilty to lesser charges to avoid the disproportionately high risk presented by mandatory minimum sentences.
"Experience teaches that the one-size-fits all effect of mandatory minimums results in justice being denied, " O’Neill said.
Delaware is leading the way in reforming the system using a scientific, data-driven approach that includes pre-trial risk assessments and smarter corrections strategies that reduce recidivism. The state enacted a new law in April 2011 that lessened mandatory minimum sentences for some first-time drug offenders and reduced minimum prison sentences for drug felonies.
“Delaware’s comprehensive approach, which includes community-based services to decrease crime and strengthen neighborhoods, can serve as a valuable national model for how to more fairly treat non-violent offenders,” Senator Coons said.
Senator Coons is a cosponsor of the Smarter Sentencing Act, legislation to expand an existing “safety valve” that allows judges to deliver sentences below mandatory minimums to non-violent offenders in specific instances. The bill also provides retroactivity for the Fair Sentencing Act, which addressed the crack cocaine sentencing disparity in 2010, reducing it from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. The provision would allow individuals serving an unjust sentence under previous law to petition a judge for a review of their sentence.