Speaker addresses efforts to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences

Published: 2004-02-25

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The effort to rid the nation of harsh mandatory minimum sentences can be slow but worthwhile, according to a representative of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which successfully changed such laws in Michigan in 2002. "It took six years" in Michigan, said Laura Sager, who directed the Michigan campaign. She made the comments during a Feb. 24 workshop at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, co-sponsored by three agencies of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and 10 national Catholic organizations. Sager credited the Michigan Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of that state's Catholic bishops, with helping to revoke Michigan's mandatory minimum sentencing laws. She cited the efforts of Paul Long, the state Catholic conference's vice president for public policy, and the Catholic Interracial Council in the Archdiocese of Detroit collaborating with Families Against Mandatory Minimums in working with legislators and law enforcement officials to rewrite the laws. "Our goal is to get back to that traditional check and balance in the judicial system," Sager said.

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