About FAMM

Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to promote fair and proportionate sentencing policies and to challenge inflexible and excessive penalties required by mandatory sentencing laws. FAMM promotes sentencing policies that give judges the discretion to distinguish between defendants and sentence them according to their role in the offense, seriousness of the offense and potential for rehabilitation. FAMM does not argue that crime should go unpunished – but that the punishment must fit the crime. FAMM's 35,000 members include prisoners and their families, attorneys, judges, criminal justice experts and concerned citizens.

FAMM works to reform mandatory minimum sentencing laws by:

Lobbying Congress and the U.S. Sentencing Commission to reform severe federal mandatory sentences and federal sentencing guidelines, as well as lobbying state legislators to reform state sentencing laws currently in Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina.
Providing litigation assistance or pro bono counsel for important and evolving sentencing issues before the U.S. Supreme Court, lower federal courts and state courts.
Educating the public and policy makers about sentencing reform and the excesses of mandatory sentencing policies using all forms of media.
Empowering local communities by building coalitions and grassroots efforts to help take the FAMM message to state and federal lawmakers.