Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 (you can read a primer on the JSVA here). The JSVA would allow federal judges to sentence criminal defendants below all mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. And the JSVA would prevent some of the worst injustices in federal sentencing, such as the case of Adam Clausen, who, at the age of 22, received a sentence of 213 years in prison for his role in nine robberies.
I was asked to submit written testimony on this Bill and it was my greatest professional honor to do so. In my testimony, I enthusiastically supported the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 because it is a necessary step towards strengthening our communities, ingraining a sense of fairness into federal sentencing, and returning sentencing discretion back to where it rightfully belongs: the federal judiciary.
You can read my testimony here: Justice Safety Valve Act – Shon Hopwood testimony.