Writing a story on mandatory sentencing laws? Let us help. FAMM can provide you with expert interviews and commentary on mandatory sentencing policies. FAMM also keeps an extensive database of case profiles of prisoners who are currently serving mandatory minimum sentences in the federal or state prison system. The stories of these prisoners help connect readers with the human faces behind these harsh laws. FAMM can also provide access to family members of incarcerated individuals. All of our media case profiles undergo an extensive research process and are fully vetted by a case researcher. We obtain key court documents like a Pre-Sentence Investigation Report (PSR), if available, to verify facts and write our case profile.
Here are some ways to cover mandatory minimums:
- The “girlfriend” problem: the growing number of women in our prisons.
- Crack vs. powder cocaine disparities and the disproportionate number of African Americans and minorities in our prison system.
- Surviving long mandatory sentences and the effect on the families/children left behind.
- Success stories. Hear from those who have survived long mandatory prison sentences and have prospered in their lives on the outside.
- Second chances stories/the power of clemency. In January 2001, President Clinton commuted the sentences of 17 FAMM members who were serving mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses. Hear their stories and how they have made the most of their second chance.
- Mandatory minimums and the “war on drugs”. 20 years later: Are we winning the war? 2006 marked the 20th anniversary since the passage of the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, when most of the drug-related mandatory minimums came into effect.
If you need further assistance, please contact FAMM's media department.