Tell Florida: Rethink Your Harsh Mandatory Minimums

Last year, even as states across the U.S. saw their prison populations fall, Florida was an outlier — one of the few whose population actually climbed.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the state's incarceration rate is the third-highest in the nation, with spending on corrections accounting for fully 11% of the state's budget.

What's the matter with Florida?

One glaring issue is the state's policy of mandatory minimums, which — like many other states — Florida passed during the 1980s, when fear over drugs and crime had reached a fever pitch. In recent years, many states and the federal government have eliminated or adjusted their mandatory minimum laws. Gradually, officials have realized that mandatory minimums amount to little more than a costly, ineffective Band-Aid. But somehow, Florida missed the memo. Tell Florida lawmakers to reevaluate their state's mandatory minimums using the petition below.

In Florida, mandatory minimums apply to everything from drug laws to probation violations. Say you're caught with an illegal bottle of prescription drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone. It doesn't matter whether you have a clean criminal record, a drug problem, or a chronic pain condition. The judge is required to sentence you to 25 years in jail. (Hardly a way to cure addiction, much less take so-called dangerous criminals off the streets.)

The only conditions under which Florida judges can adjust the sentence is if the defendant is a youth, or if the defendant assisted in the case against another individual. Otherwise, they have to do what the law prescribes — that is, dish out sentences that are often drastically out of line with the original crime. Many judges have gone on record about how they regret having to impose such sentences, and yet they're powerless to change the laws.

Lawmakers in Florida, though, can. In fact, the state tried to do just that, when lawmakers passed a bill in 2008 to examine the effectiveness of the state's sentencing practices. Unfortunately, the Correctional Policy Council the law created...never met.

But now, it looks like the effort is gearing up again. Florida lawmakers will soon have the chance to vote on Senate Bill 1394, which will require that the Council meet by a certain date, and provide recommendations on the state's mandatory minimum policy by January 2011.

If Florida doesn't change its laws, the state will need to build an additional 19 new prisons over the next five years — hardly a welcome expenditure in a time of strapped budgets. Though lawmakers are notoriously leery of looking "soft on crime," here's a chance for Florida's representatives to at least start confronting the issue, and considering the evidence. It's a very good first step. Join other Change.org members in encouraging Florida's lawmakers to vote yes.

Photo Credit: Caitlinator