safety valve

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Derk Wadas

The Federal Drug Conspiracy laws establish a so called “mandatory minimum” of a certain number of years in prison upon conviction and sentencing. depending upon the amount of drugs involved. For example, 5-40 years in prison with a minimum of five or 10 years to Life in prison Essentially, it means that if one is convicted of a dug conspiracy, one is required to serve the mandatory minimum without regard to applicable sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines

Is the mandatory minimum really “mandatory.” For many, the answer is clearly, no. There are several mechanisms built into the law that allow people to avoid, in some cases, the mandatory minimum requirements.

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Sentencing in federal criminal case is largely a product of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. For those that may not know, the Guidelines were established by Congress in the 1980s in an effort to bring uniformity and consistency to federal criminal cases. The Guidelines established, among other things, mandatory minimum sentences for many drug conspiracy cases.

In 1994, Congress passed the “Safety Valve” statute, 18 U.S.C section 3553(f). The safety valve provision of Title 18 authorizes Courts to impose sentences below the statutory minimum if the defendant meets certain requirements in cases under section 21 USC 841, 844, 846, 960 or 963.

(1) the defendant does not have more than 1 criminal history point, as determined under the sentencing guidelines;

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Articles Posted in safety valve

THE “MANDATORY MINIMUM” IN A FEDERAL DRUG CONSPIRACY CASE.

UNDERSTANDING THE “SAFETY VALVE” IN FEDERAL CRIMINAL CASES