Mandatory minimum sentences require courts to give people a certain prison sentence regardless of the facts or circumstances of the crime or the individual. The result is one-size-fits-all sentences that never fit all. Mandatory minimum sentences:

• Have not been proven to reduce or deter crime;
• Make us less safe by forcing judges to send people to prison even if they don't need to be there, or send them to prison for longer than necessary to keep the public safe;
• Are expensive, fill prisons, and lead to overcrowding and new prison construction;
• Are unjust and create arbitrary and excessive punishments that don't fit the crime;
• Stop judges from using more effective alternatives like drug treatment or mental health programs to meet a person's specific needs;
• Have been shown to create and worsen racial disparities in sentencing;
• Destroy families by keeping them apart too long.

Email your state lawmakers and tell them to oppose mandatory minimum sentences and reform or get rid of the ones we currently have.