Last year Congress took a modest step in the right direction, unanimously
passing the Fair Sentencing Act -- raising the quantities of crack cocaine
needed to trigger certain infamous five- and ten-year sentences, and eliminating
mandatory minimum sentences for crack possession.  Further reforms are needed
to address these unjust and expensive sentencing laws.  Please support the
following important bills:

 * H.R. 2303, the "Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act," which would reduce
the incentive prosecutors have to go after large numbers of petty offenders
instead of targeting major ones, by eliminating the mandatory minimum sentences
that give them that incentive.
 
 * H.R. 2316 and H.R. 2242, bills to make last year's crack sentencing reforms
retroactive; and to continue the reform by eliminating "cocaine base" from the
federal code entirely, equalising the penalties for crack and powder cocaine and
thus eliminating a source of racial and socioeconomic bias in sentencing.

Lengthy prison sentences are a loss not only for these petty offenders, who
don't necessarily need to be segregated from society, but also for society which
is deprived of their potential contributions.  Save the prisons - and the prison
budgets - for those truly offensive individuals who commit major crimes that
harm others.