Two children attend public school together in Oakland. One girl has a mother in prison for a drug crime she didn’t commit, and is now being raised by her grandmother. The other girl lives with her single mother who works overtime as a corrections officer at the same prison. Through the stories of one judge, one criminal defense attorney, one prosecutor, one corrections officer and a young single mother en route to prison under the mandatory minimum drug laws, we find out just how much federal mandatory minimum drug laws are affecting our children, communities and society.

By following the journey of women on both sides of the bars and in all positions in the courtroom, we will review non-violent drug laws, mandatory minimum sentencing, and the (in)justice of the “justice system” for so many. From the arrest, to the court, to the prison, and all the way to her return to society, we also see the impact that a woman’s sentencing has on her family – her child, her mother, and, her community.

“The United States has the largest prison population in the world. Many of these offenders are not murderers, robbers, or rapists, but drug users, addicts, or sellers. Every year, thousands receive lengthy mandatory terms in federal prisons for these drug crimes. The mandatory sentences on the books today were designed to stop drug trafficking, but they have not. It is not the first time in American history that they have been used and failed.”
– Molly M. Gill, Staff Attorney and Special Projects Director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Government and independent research since the John F. Kennedy administration has shown time and again that long prison sentences were not, and still are not an effective deterrent to drug use- that rehabilitation should be the primary objective for the government, and that courts should have wide discretion to deal with drug offenses.

Despite years of data that clearly showed the opposite of the desired effects, in a renewed attempt to seem “tough on crime” in the mid and late-1980s, Congress reinstated mandatory minimum laws without any hearings, debate, or study.

Fast forward to 2009
Today we are witnessing the failure of experiments in crime and punishment that were set in motion during the Reagan years, which effectively played upon the general public’s fear of drug and gun crimes. Throughout history, Draconian laws have been ineffectual and are still so today as reflected in the US criminal justice system’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Mandatory minimums, whether established through legislative enactment or imposed by ballot measure, have yet to be repealed and in the interim communities and individuals suffer unnecessarily.

We are currently at a point in history where the system is not working; in fact, many legal experts have identified mandatory minimums as a “perversion of justice.” Yet judges, frustrated in their ever-expanding obsolescence, cannot do much; prisoners sentenced to 15 or more years can spend nearly a lifetime seeking elusive justice while the hands of attorneys on both sides are tied.

With a new President and cabinet members, particularly a new Drug Czar, who foster new hope in the political system, the potential to actually bring about safety, security and health for all in the U.S. has never been more tangible and attainable. President Obama has said that not only would he and his new administration address disparities in drug sentencing laws, but in fact has said that he believes that drug sentencing laws need to be relaxed.

Due to mandatory minimum sentences and the war on drugs, half a million of the 2.3 million Americans under lock and key have a story to tell; many are innocent women without money nor representation, neither in the courtroom nor on Capitol Hill.

Our cameras will illuminate the subjects of justice and hope, legalization and criminalization through multiple characters’ interactions with mandatory minimum drug sentencing. IN JUSTICE will illuminate the ripple effect of these policies on family community, culture and society.