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Democrat introduces bill to end mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses via rawstory.com

Maxine Waters has just introduced The Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 in the House. This bill would remove the mandatory minimums found in drug laws and give discretion back to the judge.

“This legislation will refocus federal prosecutorial resources on major drug traffickers and eliminate racial disparities created by the mandatory minimum sentences for power and crack cocaine,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who authored the bill

“In the 1980s, Congress passed two Anti-Drug Abuse Acts with the goal that federal prosecutors would go after major drug traffickers at the top of the food chain, instead of low-level drug offenders at the bottom,” Waters continued. “Lengthy mandatory minimum sentences were passed for most drug crimes. These mandatory terms are based solely on the weight and the drug involved, and, with very few exceptions, the courts cannot sentence below them.”

“Twenty years later,” she added, “mandatory drug sentences have utterly failed to achieve Congress’ goals.”

The text of the bill can be found here.  Her floor statement introducing the bill can be found here.