FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 19, 2019
CONTACT:
Logan Elizabeth Padgett
(850) 386-3131
New JMI Report Analyzes Florida’s Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws
TALLAHASSEE- Florida spends more than $100 million annually incarcerating low-level drug offenders serving mandatory minimums. A new study authored by Greg Newburn, State Policy Director of FAMM and Sal Nuzzo, JMI’s VP of Policy concludes that mandatory minimums have failed to achieve their intended purposes.
Mandatory sentencing laws were adopted in the 1970s to reduce drug-related crimes but instead, have continuously shown to expedite spending on corrections and increase the population of the incarcerated by arresting low-level drug offenders.
The JMI report,“Mandatory Minimums, Crime and Drug Abuse: Lessons Leaned, Paths Ahead,” found that “the deterrence of drug trafficking and abuse promised by the proponents of mandatory minimums failed to materialize.” In fact, the overall drug-induced death rate in Florida increased by 150 percent in the 16 years between 1999 and 2015. Additionally, prescription drug arrests skyrocketed from around 6,000 in 2002 to more than 25,000 in 2010. By FY 2010-11, drug admissions to Florida prisons were twice what they were in 1996
Florida is also not using mandatory minimums to lock up only major drug traffickers. A 2012 report by Florida’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) studied inmates serving mandatory sentences for opioid trafficking. According to the report, 74 percent of these inmates had never been to prison previously. Half had either never been on probation or had been on probation solely for drug possession, and 84 percent had no current or past violent offenses. The report concluded the majority of such inmates “had minimal prior criminal involvement and substance abuse problems” and were at “low risk for recidivism.”
Because mandatory minimums have failed to achieve their intended purposes, many conservative groups have encouraged the legislature to reform mandatory minimum drug laws
One such reform would give judges, under compelling circumstances, a degree of flexibility to sentence drug offenders appropriately. Restoring some discretion to drug sentencing by adopting a “safety valve” will help divert some of these inmates to more efficient and more effective sanctions, including long-term treatment and rehabilitation. Several states, including Georgia and Mississippi, already have safety valves for drug trafficking, and they’ve worked to reduce crime and unnecessary incarceration.
“It is both wise and practical for Florida to follow numerous other conservative states and reform our mandatory minimum sentencing laws in ways that will both improve public safety and promote better use of taxpayer dollars. The current approach has resulted in costly and unintended consequences for Florida. We can take a cue from policymakers in states around the country, as well as those in the federal government, who have shown that rethinking mandatory minimum policies can result in reductions in both crime and prison populations.” –Sal Nuzzo, Vice President of Policy, The James Madison Institute
“Along with New York and Michigan, Florida was one of the first states to experiment with mandatory minimum drug laws. Forty years later, New York and Michigan have both recognized the experiment failed, and repealed their laws. Florida, unfortunately, still pretends the strategy has merit. I am grateful to the James Madison Institute for publishing this study, which I hope will guide lawmakers as they continue to search for answers to Florida’s ongoing drug problem.”–Greg Newburn, State Policy Director, FAMM
Facing an opioid and heroin epidemic, the Florida Legislature has an opportunity this legislative session to move the needle in the right policy direction on this critical issue.
“Mandatory Minimums, Crime and Drug Abuse: Lessons Leaned, Paths Ahead” is available here: https://jamesmadison.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/PolicyBrief_MandatoryMinimums_Feb2019_v04.pdf
Florida’s premier free-market think tank, The James Madison Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization. The Institute conducts research on such issues as health care, taxes, and regulatory environments.
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