MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE REPEALS MANDATORY MINIMUM DRUG LAWS

The Michigan Senate approved historic rollbacks of the state's
mandatory minimum drug laws on December 12. The Michigan House
approved the bills a week earlier. By all accounts, Gov. John Engler
(R) will shortly sign the bills into law. The three bills approved by
the legislature -- HB 5394, HB 5395 and HB 6510 -- will eliminate most
mandatory sentences and restore a measure of judicial discretion in
sentencing.

Michigan went on a drug war imprisonment rampage beginning in 1978,
but by the mid-1990s the prohibitionist consensus began to fray under
the weight of mass incarceration. In 1998, in response to a campaign
spearheaded by Families Against Mandatory Minimums
(http://www.famm.org), the legislature relaxed the state's draconian
"650 Lifer Law," which mandated life without parole for anyone
convicted of distribution or conspiracy to distribute more than 650
grams of heroin or cocaine.

Former Gov. William Milliken (R), who signed the 1978 mandatory
minimum laws, joined the reformers' camp this year. He said signing
those bills was "the worst mistake of my life."

Milliken was part of a remarkable coalition engineered by FAMM to win
change in the legislature. Support from law enforcement and
prosecutors, as well as from social and religious groups and
especially the families of prisoners, allowed FAMM to craft a winning
political movement, said Monica Pratt, director of communications for
the group. The coalition included the Prosecuting Attorneys'
Association of Michigan, the Michigan Association of Drug Court
Professionals, the Michigan Judiciary Association, the Michigan
Catholic Conference and the Detroit NAACP, along with legislators on
both sides of the aisle and in both houses.

"This major step brings fairness back to the judicial system in
Michigan," said state Rep. Bill McConico (D-Detroit), chief sponsor of
the bills. "The overwhelming bipartisan support for this legislation
shows it is not a partisan issue. We were able to unite Republicans,
Democrats, prosecutors, judges and families in the common cause of
sentencing justice. Now we can reunite families, reallocate resources
and allow judges to do their job."

Even prosecutors got on board. "Michigan's prosecutors recognize that
an effective drug policy is a combination of criminal justice
strategies, readily available drug treatment programs, incarceration
where appropriate, and prevention activities in schools, businesses,
and homes," said David Morse, president of the Prosecuting Attorneys
Association of Michigan.

Here's what HB 5394 and HB 5395 will do:

- - Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and lifetime probation for
drug offenses;

- - Allow judges to use Michigan's sentencing guidelines to impose
sentences based on all the facts of each case (criminal history, use
of weapon, other offenses), not just drug weight;

- - Restore judges' discretion to "fit the punishment to the crime,"
meaning that the longest sentences (and biggest investment in
expensive prison beds) will be reserved for the most serious offenders;

- - Replace lifetime probation for the lowest level drug offenses with
the standard five-year probationary period used for other serious crimes;

- - Allow judges to impose consecutive (stacked) sentences for delivery
offenses but eliminate mandatory consecutive sentencing for possession
offenses;

- - Increase guideline penalties for the most serious
offenses;

- - Create new sentencing ranges (the minimum and maximum penalties) and
drug amounts for each offense level over 50 grams; and

- - Increase penalties for delivery in a home where a minor resides and
for multiple (over 50 gram) offenses.

Here's what HB 6510 will do:

- - Replace lifetime probation with a five-year probationary period and
allow the court to discharge current offenders from lifetime probation
who have successfully completed five years; and

- - Allow earlier parole eligibility for prisoners serving "under-650"
mandatory minimum and mandatory consecutive drug offenses. This does
not guarantee parole, but simply provides parole eligibility (similar
to the parole eligibility provisions for "650 Lifers" enacted in 1998).

For the texts and legislative history of the bills, go to
http://www.michiganlegislature.org and type in the bill numbers.