Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 09:54:57 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199906111354.JAA03542@mattababy.zocalo.terc.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com
Subject: support HR 1681

Dear Representative Capuano:

I write as your constituent to express my support for HR 1681.  This bill would
return discretionary power to federal judges by abolishing nearly all federal
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.  It has been drafted in response
to calls from Supreme Court Justices Rehnquist, Kennedy and Breyer, and scores 
of other federal judges.  Mandatory minimum sentencing has been filling prisons
without producing an effect on drug consumption or distribution.  Meanwhile,
more dangerous criminals may receive early release from overcrowded prisons.  I
urge you to support HR 1681 in order to return the nation to a more just and
practical scheme of punishment for drug-related crimes.