1. society
2. crime
3. drug trafficking

THE SMARTER SENTENCING ACT OF 2015 (SSA)
S. 502 – Lee, Durbin / H.R. 920 – Labrador, Scott
Preserves public safety.
While drug offenders should be held accountable, we currently spend too much money locking
up nonviolent drug offenders for too long. The SSA is a modest reform that saves prison beds for
more dangerous offenders and protects limited funding for public safety.
 Federal prisons currently consume one quarter of the Justice Department’s budget.
 Half of all federal prisoners are drug offenders. Most drug offenders sentenced annually
have little or no criminal record, did not use or possess weapons, and were not high-level
drug traffickers, yet received lengthy mandatory minimum sentences.
 Prison costs have doubled since 1994, while funding for victim services, law
enforcement, and other important crime prevention programs has been cut in half.
 The SSA merely reduces, not eliminates, mandatory minimum drug sentences – drug
offenders will still face at least 2, 5, 10, 20, or 25 years in prison for their crimes.
 The SSA does not change mandatory minimum sentences for drug importation, crimes
that result in death or serious bodily injury, or violent, sex, or terrorism offenses.
Saves billions of taxpayer dollars for programs that keep the public safe.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Smarter Sentencing Act will save more than
$3 billion over 10 years and reduce overcrowding in federal prisons by reducing, not
eliminating, mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. These savings will
preserve funding for victim services, law enforcement, and crime prevention.
Enhances fairness and saves expensive prison beds for dangerous offenders.
The bill slightly expands the existing federal “safety valve” exception to mandatory minimum
drug sentences, permitting nonviolent, low-level drug offenders with minor criminal records to
receive fairer sentences below the mandatory minimum term. This prevents unjust outcomes and
saves lengthy sentences and expensive prison beds for more dangerous offenders.
Remedies a long-standing racial injustice and strengthens black communities.
The bill permits 8,800 federal prisoners (87% of which are black) imprisoned for crack cocaine
crimes to return to court to seek fairer punishments in line with the Fair Sentencing Act, a
unanimously-passed measure that reduced the racially discriminatory disparity between crack
and powder cocaine sentences in 2010. Sentence reductions are not automatic and can be denied
to protect the public.
Addresses over-criminalization. The bill requires the Justice Department and other
federal agencies to compile, and make publicly available on their websites, lists of all federal
laws and regulations, their criminal penalties, and the intent (mens rea) required to violate the
law. This increases transparency and provides fair notice of what is and is not a crime.