Yesterday, FWD.us Vice President of Criminal Justice Campaigns, Elissa Johnson, testified before the United States Sentencing Commission in favor of changes to the federal sentencing guidelines that would reduce disproportionately long drug sentences that do not improve public safety, and support the Commission’s use of a more evidence-based approach to drug sentencing.

Watch Elissa’s Testimony Here.

Johnson testified that, “Over forty years ago, federal and state law changes created lengthy prison sentences and mandatory minimums in an attempt to stem drug use and sales. However, in the intervening decades, a growing body of research has made clear that increased penalties and longer sentences don’t deter drug use or trade or make our communities safer.”

The United States Sentencing Commission is a bipartisan, independent agency within the judiciary branch that works to reduce disparities in sentencing and promote transparency and proportionality within federal sentencing. The work of the Commission does not always reach the front page of the news, but their work to address disproportionate sentences is a critical function that impacts hundreds of thousands of people sentenced in the federal criminal justice system and their families.

FWD.us has provided public comment to the Commission regarding proposed changes to the Guidelines on several occasions in the last couple of years, including supporting last year’s changes that would limit a judge’s ability to consider acquitted conduct in sentencing and broaden judges’ discretion to consider age when sentencing youth.

In addition to the testimony about proposed changes to federal drug sentencing, FWD submitted public comment on other proposed amendments, including critically-needed changes to supervised release in the federal criminal justice system. You can read FWD’s full public comment here.

The current proposed amendments, if passed, are commonsense changes that support the evidence that unnecessary incarceration causes many harms, including increasing recidivism, and that long sentences aren’t an effective deterrent and instead separate families, destabilize communities, and drain public funds.