The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, works on behalf of tens of thousands of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking across the country, representing state, tribal and national victim advocacy organizations, civil, human,and women’s rights advocates, and faith based organizations. 

This letter to the was written to two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Charles E. Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick J. Leahy. The letter expresses support for the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 (S. 2123) while expressing concerns about the inclusion of new mandatory minimum provisions in a bill whose express purpose is to reform our criminal justice system. Mandatory minimums interfere with judicial discretion and strip judges of their ability to take special circumstances into account when determining appropriate punishment. Mandatory minimum sentences are particularly harmful to defendants who are victims of domestic and sexual violence, whose criminal activity is frequently the result of coercion.

NTF Criminal Justice Reform Bill Support Ltr 1.29