Johanna S. Zapp, Esq.
Congress is seeking public comment of weather or not the new two point reduction amendment should be retroactive. This means that as of now, congress does not know if already sentenced defendants (on drug cases) would be able to receive the benefit of the two-point reduction. Congress is asking for your opinion.
You can send a letter to:
United States Sentencing Guidelines Commissions
One Columbus Circle, N.E.
Suite 2-500
Washington, DC 20002-8002
Attention: Public Affairs-Retroactivity Public Comment
Your letter should include the following:
1. The original purpose of the two-point reduction was to unburden the BOP (an in effect the government) of incarcerating non-violent drug offenders longer than necessary. The prisons are over crowded with non-violent drug offenders because the old drug scheme required sentences that were too long. Now, with the two-point reduction, non-violent drug offenders can be released sooner, and the prison population will decline. If this new amendment is made RETROACTIVE, then it will further the purpose of the intent on reducing prison population significantly.
2. The fairness argument is that it simply would not be fair if the new amendment were not made retroactive. If it were not made retroactive, that would mean that non-violent drug offenders, perhaps more culpable than yourself, would get a better sentence just because they were lucky enough to get sentenced during a time when this new amendment was in effect.
3. Public Safety Consideration- here, I would just say that as far as public safety is concerned, the commission must have already considered this. If it isn’t an issue for prospective defendants (defendants who are going to be sentenced under the new amendment,) it shouldn’t be an issue for defendants who have already been sentenced.
4. The ease of implementation is a big issue for congress. They believe it will simply be too hard to make the amendment retroactive. In theory, it should be pretty easy, because the guideline numbers are just that- numbers. No one can argue with numbers. But as far as practicality goes, I would think that there would be a learning curve, all you’d need is for the government (your prosecutor) to sign off on a form that said, there was no violence, it was a drug case, his or her guidelines were less than 38, etc. It should be pretty easy once people get used to doing it.
5. You should state in your letter that the entire amendment should be retroactive.
The bottom line is that the purpose of this amendment was to decrease the prison population. If this guideline were made retroactive it would be able to do that in a very efficient way.
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I want to reiterate a few things. As of now, this new two-point amendment is NOT RETROACTIVE. That means that if you have already been sentenced, it does not apply to you. Also, this two-point amendment is only for non-violent drug offenders.