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Similar November Coalition, Drug Policy Alliance, Prison Policy Initiative, Center for Constitutional Rights, Innocence Project Profiles | ||
Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a USA nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to challenge what they believe to be the 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, the seriousness of the offense, and their potential for rehabilitation. FAMM's members include prisoners and their families, attorneys, judges, criminal justice experts, and concerned citizens.
The founder, Julie Stewart, started this organization shortly after her brother was convicted of growing marijuana and given a mandatory five year federal prison sentence.[1] Since then, FAMM has been responsible for policy changes that have eliminated and reformed mandatory minimum prison sentences for thousands of individuals.