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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
05/01/2024 03:39 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20130&cosponId=13479
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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: October 7, 2013 03:53 PM
From: Representative Ronald G. Waters
To: All House members
Subject: Mandatory Minimum Reform
 
In the near future, I will be introducing legislation which would, in a criminal case, after conviction or plea of guilty, allow the defendant to petition the court to depart from any mandatory minimum sentence, if the defendant has been diagnosed with a recognized mental illness, or if all of the following conditions are met:
  1. The defendant has no significant history of criminal convictions,
  2. The defendant did not engage in violence or possess a weapon in connection with the offense,
  3. The offense did not result in death or bodily injury to any other person,
  4. The defendant was not the leader or organizer of others in the offense, and
  5. The defendant cooperates with the Commonwealth by providing any truthful information and evidence necessary.
Our prisons and jails are overcrowded with first time or non-violent offenders, making the jobs of our corrections officers even more difficult, and putting a strain on state and local budgets. Mandatory minimums have sent such individuals to prison for longer than is just or necessary. I believe this will be an important first step in alleviating the problem of overcrowding, by allowing judges who know the individual facts of each case to make sentencing decisions for cases involving first time, non-violent offenders. Similar legislation was passed in 1994 regarding federal crimes.
I hope that you will join me by co-sponsoring this important legislation.

Introduced as HB1799