Marc Levin, Director of Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice and Policy Director of Right on Crime, will testify before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, September 18 at 10:00 a.m. eastern time in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The hearing, titled “Reevaluating the Effectiveness of Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences,” will review the bipartisan bill introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “to allow judges greater flexibility in sentencing federal crimes where a mandatory minimum punishment is considered unnecessary.”
“I am looking forward to sharing with Congress the many criminal justice reform successes in Texas and other states that Right on Crime has helped spearhead. In setting federal criminal justice policy, Washington D.C. can learn a great deal from these powerful examples of how states are reducing both crime and costs to taxpayers through reforms based on conservative principles such as personal responsibility and limited government. I am particularly pleased to appear before our two Texas Senators who serve so ably on the Senate Judiciary Committee and have done so much to advance these principles.”
The Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 expands the “safety-valve” that allows judges to sentence offenders to an incarceration term below the mandatory minimum in certain felony drug cases. The implementation of this proposed legislation would help control the ever-rising costs of incarceration and, in turn, direct those funds towards rehabilitative programs that ensure community safety.