Sentences thatfit.

Justice that works.

families against mandatory minimums

annual report 2008

letter from the president

“I had a 27-year sentence under thecrack law; however because of [FAMM’s]hard work, I will be going home

in March 2009 instead of 2014.”— Maggie L. Turpin, served 18 years of a 27-year sentence

May you live in interesting times. That is

the famous and subtle curse attributed

to Confucius, and that is how I will

look back upon 2008. It was a year of great

turmoil, but also of hope. The year was marked

by a highly charged presidential campaign,

replete with partisan bickering; the beginnings of

a financial meltdown that saw major banks lose

their solvency and ordinary citizens lose their

homes; and the continued sacrifice of brave

Americans waging

wars in two distant

countries. For the

first time I can

remember, the

world’s macro-

events touched

FAMM directly as

one of the biggest

frauds on Wall

Street forced one of

our largest financial

supporters to fold.

The blow to

FAMM’s budget

was as severe as it

was unpredictable.

But the 2008 year

was not without

hope. The

American people exercised their freedom to vote

for a history-making candidate who promised a

fresh start, something most Americans,

regardless of political persuasion, seemed to

want. And you couldn’t help but sense that all

Americans rightly felt pride in how far our

country had come in the quest for greater equality.

FAMM found hope, too. In a year where most

bills got caught up in the political ringer, FAMM

worked with members of both parties to promote

legislation that recognizes that “lock ‘em up and

throw away the key” might be a good slogan, but it

is dreadful social policy. We continued to advance

smart sentencing reforms across several states,

most notably, with an aggressive new campaign in

Massachusetts to eliminate all drug-related

mandatory minimums. And FAMM’s financial

loss, while painful, came at a time when FAMM’s

reliance on new media allowed us to get our

message to more people than ever before.

That FAMM was able to survive – indeed, thrive –

in a year filled with such turmoil is a source of

pride for me and a measure of how far the

organization has come. You do not get the true

measure of a person or a group during the good

times; it is how they respond during moments of

adversity that reveal true character. I have always

believed that FAMM’s character reflects the

strength and courage of our members,

individuals whose lives were indelibly altered by

life’s sharp edges.

To those of you who support FAMM with your

generous contributions of money or time, please

know how much we appreciate you. We recognize

that we could not make the impact we do for our

shared cause of sentencing justice without your

steadfast support. Thanks for being there – both

in good times and in interesting times.

Julie Stewart

President

“There is a point beyondwhich the lessons that

could be learned and thepunishment that

could be extractedare well past – theyare lost. And beyond thatpoint it makes no sense towarehouse those humans.”

– testimony of former prisoner

Michael Short

Program Expenses 2008Total program expenses:

$1,258,213

2008 financialstatement

liabilities and net assetsCURRENT LIABILITIESAccounts payable $42,920Accrued expenses 118Pension payable 3,389Accrued vacation payable 11,047Accrued payroll and payroll taxes 554

Total Current Liabilities 58,028

NET ASSETSUnrestricted net assets 442,638Temporarily restricted net assets 511,250

Total Net Assets 953,888

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $1,011,916

Expenses 2008Total expenses:$1,758,166

Revenue 2008Total revenue:$1,506,309

assetsCURRENT ASSETSCash and cash equivalents $623,750Grant receivable 335,000Accounts receivable - other 6,281Accrued interest 1,807Prepaid expenses 22,963

Total Current Assets 989,801

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT-AT COSTFurniture 3,495Equipment 4,052Software 34,951

42,498Less: accumulated depreciation (23,015)

Property and Equipment, Net 19,483

OTHER ASSETSSecurity deposit 2,632Total Other Assets 2,632

TOTAL ASSETS $1,011,916

Foundation Grants$669,100

Individual Contributions$832,941

In-kind Donations$1,100

Interest Income &Other Income

$3,168

General &Administration

$258,245

Fundraising$241,708

Program Expenses$1,258,213

SpecialProjects$141,335

State & Regional Programs$538,120

Federal Advocacy$174,588

Communications$424,170

programsSTATE ADVOCACYFAMM was active in several states in 2008 to improve sentencingpolicies, prevent bad policies from being introduced, and to promotesentence commutations for individuals serving excessively harshsentences. Highlights included:

InMassachusetts, FAMM helped lawmakers craft reformsto state drug sentencing laws, including bills that would have:(1) reduced the size of the drug-free school zones and eliminatedmandatory minimum sentences for first-time offenders and(2) allowed prisoners serving mandatory minimum drug sentencesto apply for parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence. In addition,FAMM was then invited to participate in the unveiling of the JudiciaryCommittee's criminal justice reform package.FAMM’s grassroots and grasstops approach inNew Jersey helped tosecure the introduction of two newmandatory minimum reform bills, andapproval of one bill through the Assembly that would reform the state’sdrug-free school-zone law. The bill would allow courts to consider whether towaive or impose the mandatory minimum sentence on drug-free school zonedefendants, based on the extent and seriousness of the defendant’s criminalrecord, the location of the offense in relation to school property, and thepossibility of exposing children to drug activity. InMichigan, FAMMhelped craft, and then gain passage through the House, a package of reformsintended to tie up loose ends from the historic reforms of 1998 and 2003.

FEDERAL ADVOCACY

In an exciting, politically charged election

year, FAMM worked in the courts, the

United States Sentencing Commission and

Congress, to achieve victories and to advance

systemic federal sentencing reform.

Notably, our successful 2007 effort to reform

crack cocaine penalties was rewarded when

it became retroactive in March 2008. Over

12,000 individuals serving nonviolent crack

sentences received sentence reductions

averaging two years.

FAMM used the tremendous momentum

from the Commission’s crack cocaine

reforms to spur Congress to action.

Seven bills were introduced in the 110th

Congress – three in the Senate and four

in the House – that would change crack

cocaine sentencing policy. Working with

advocates, coalition partners, Republicans

and Democrats in Congress, we championed the

best bills and lobbied for change. FAMMmember

and former prisoner Michael Short testified before

the House about his decades’ long sentence, and

members across the country emailed, phoned and

wrote their members of Congress to support

sentencing reform. The work we did in 2008 laid

the ground work for what we hope will be an

important legislative victory in the 111th Congress.

FAMM also helped win passage of the Second

Chance Act, which increased halfway house time

for federal prisoners and created the first Elderly

Offender Home Detention Pilot Program, allowing

eligible aged prisoners to serve the end of their

sentence in their own homes. FAMM promoted

the restoration of the judicial majority on the U.S.

Sentencing Commission. The passage of S.3659,

the “Judicial Administration and Technical

Amendments Act of 2008,” ensures that judges

are involved in shaping the sentencing guidelines.

Michael Short testifying before the HouseJudiciary Subcommittee on Crime.

“Congress can reenact aproud moment in its

history by dumping strictmandatory minimums."

Washington Post editorial citing

FAMM's Correcting Course report.

LITIGATION AND COMMUTATIONS

2008 was another successful yea

r for FAMM in the Supreme

Court. We filedamicus briefs on

the winning side of two

decisions. Theserulings give tria

l judges greaterdiscretion

in sentencing and limit the appli

cation of the

mandatory minimum penalties in the

Armed

Career Criminal Act.

Three long-timeFAMMmembers receiv

ed

commutations from President Georg

e W. Bush. To

help others in the future, FAMM

created a

comprehensiveCommutations

Guidebook thatshows

federal prisoners how to prepar

e and file their own

commutation petitions without t

he assistance ofa

lawyer. We are also pleased to re

port that we helped

secure eleven commutations in

the State of Michigan.

COMMUNICATIONS

In 2008, FAMM’s message reached more

readers, viewers, and listeners than ever

before.

Thanks to a focus on new media, FAMM

achieved over 51 million media impressions last

year. FAMM also garnered over 70 unique media

hits about sentencing issues, defined as articles

that feature FAMM staff, members, or projects.

FAMM wrote and released a new report titled

“Correcting Course: Lessons from the 1970 Repeal

of Mandatory Minimums.” Our groundbreaking

report tells, for the first time, the story of our

nation’s first failed experiment in mandatory

minimums and their subsequent repeal. Timed to

coincide with the report, FAMM commissioned a

national poll to gauge the American public’s current

views on sentencing reform. The poll found that

roughly six in ten Americans strongly oppose

mandatory sentencing and eight in ten believe that

courts, not Congress, should decide appropriate

sentences. “Correcting Course” was the subject of a

very favorable editorial in The Washington Post.

FAMM’s rapid response communications team

fired off press releases and e-alerts as soon as

sentencing issues made the news. We were quick

to get our point of view out and widely circulated

for mass media and our membership. FAMM’s

communications team also produced four issues of

the FAMMGram newsletter. These newsletters are

full of useful and current information about

sentencing for prisoners and their families.

pro

gram

s

Former FAMM staffer Angelyn Frazer, 3rd fromleft, with Florida conference attendees.

Julie Stewart is the President and

Founder of Families Against Mandatory

Minimums. She attended Mills College

in Oakland, California, graduating

summa cum laude in 1988 with a B.A.

in International Relations, after which she

worked at the libertarian Cato Institute for

three years as the director of public affairs.

Julie loves to take her two young

daughters to the wheat farm she grew up

on in Washington State.

Mary Price is FAMM’s Vice

President and General Counsel.

She directs the FAMM Litigation

Project and works on federal

sentencing reform on Capitol Hill

and before the United States

Sentencing Commission. Mary

graduated cum laude from Georgetown

University Law Center.

When not spending time with her

family, Mary rides Mister Horse,

an off-the-track thoroughbred in

dressage training.

Molly Gill (on left) is the Director of Special

and Legal Projects. Before relocating to

Washington, D.C., she worked in a prosecutor's

office in Minneapolis, where she became

concerned about prisoners and sentencing policy.

Molly received a law degree from the University

of Minnesota Law School.

Molly’s passions include the theater

(especially Shakespeare) and visiting

Ireland as often as possible.

Jennifer Seltzer-Stitt is the

Federal Legislative Director. She joined

FAMM after serving as the Director of

Public Policy at the Population Institute.

Jennifer has a B.A. from Miami University

of Ohio and a master’s degree from the

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced

International Studies.

Jennifer considers herself a bagel

connoisseur and can list the pros and

cons of all local bakeries.

Deborah Fleischaker is our

State Legislative Affairs Director. In

addition to her work at FAMM,

Deborah is an adjunct professor at the

University of Maryland School of Law and

teaches a seminar on the death penalty.

Deborah earned her bachelor’s degree from

Vanderbilt University and her law degree from

the University of Maryland.

Deborah has fists of fury and a

second degree black belt in tae kwon do.

Lenora Yerkes (on right) is FAMM’s

Law Intern and a second year law student at

Georgetown Law School. The native

Californian is also the co-president of the

Georgetown Law Innocence Project.

Lenora has degrees in Art History and

Visual Culture and in Printmaking.

Lenora’s interests include

German printmakers of the 19th and

20th centuries.

FAMM staff

Barbara Dougan is the Director of

FAMM’s Massachusetts Project, where she

gets to do it all: lobbying, public education,

and outreach to prisoners and their

families. She previously worked for many

years at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil

Rights in Boston. She is active in social

justice organizations in the Boston area.

Barb claims to have a stand-up comedy

routine, although we have yet to see a

performance.

Monica Pratt-Raffanel (not pictured)

is the Director of Communications. She joined FAMM in

1993 as FAMM’s National Project Director. In 1997 she

became our Director of Communications and has since

secured stories on sentencing reform in major national

newspapers, magazines, and on television.

Monica enjoys cooking and makes a mean

ginger orange sauce.

Roxana Rincones (not pictured) is the

Director of Finance and Administration.

Prior to FAMM, she worked as the Chief Financial

Officer at the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, a

nonprofit organization that advocates for victims of conflict

in several war-torn countries.

Roxana was born in Caracas, Venezuela,

and loves sailing.

Ava Page (on left) is FAMM’s Profile

Researcher. Ava is also the founder of Justice Not

Jails, a student organization dedicated to reaching

out to incarcerated people and their families in

the District. She is an American University

student who will graduate this year.

Ava loves animals and has four

rambunctious dogs.

Christie Wrightson is FAMM’s

Development Director. Prior to joining

FAMM, she worked at Our Place, D.C., a re-

entry program for formerly incarcerated

women. Christie received her Masters of Social

Work from Catholic University, with a

concentration on nonprofit development.

Christie’s most prized possession is

her red scooter named Indi.

Winnie Chao is our Development

Associate. Her interest in criminal justice

began at the Virginia Capital

Representation Resource Center, where she

worked as a legal assistant. She graduated

from the University of Virginia in 2007.

Winnie likes to relax on the weekends

by playing rugby.

Andrea Strong(not pictured) is the

Director of Member Services. Once the typical

suburban housewife, she found herself deeply involved in

the criminal justice system when her brother, Mark Young,

received a mandatory life sentence for his role in a

marijuana conspiracy in 1991. She is often the first person

prisoners and their families talk to at FAMM.

Andrea married her high school sweetheart and

they’ve been happily married for 38 years.

Karen Garrison (on right) is our Office

Assistant and her interest in criminal justice

reform began after her twins, Lawrence and

Lamont, were sentenced to serve time in a federal

prison for non-violent crack cocaine offenses.

She is a native Washingtonian and was a licensed

cosmetologist for 35 years.

Karen enjoys social networking websites

like Facebook and Twitter.

“Thanks FAMMfor yourtireless effort

s.

Despite the challenges, my re-

entry was successful

after 10 yearsand 9 months of

incarceration.

FAMM is a great organization and my

prayers are that it prospers a

nd continues.”

— Anthea Harris, served al

most 11 years

of a 15-yearsentence

Robert Batey

Clifford N. Burnstein

Graeme Bush and Wendy S. Rudolph

Jonathan Cohen

Ward Connerly

Matthew and Julia Coyte

Edward H. Crane

Douglas G. Cullinane

Arthur Curry

Brian M. Deitte

Richard J. Dennis

Timothy W. Ferguson

Bert Fingerhut

Marc and Phyllis L. Fleischaker

Jason and Wendy Flom

David Fox

Robert and Sandy Gelfond

John F. Gilmore

Herbert and Gigi Hancock

Philip D. Harvey

Ken and Terri Hertz

Robert Hissom

Lynn and Bruce Holbein

Cary Hopper

Ethelmae Humphreys

Brian Johnson and Gail Krieger

Annette and Cal Johnson

Skipper Jones

Woody Kaplan and Wendy Kaminer

Robert S. Kinkel

David Koch

John Kunze

Peter Lewis

Jason Linn

Barry and Wendy Meyer

Gerry Ohrstrom

Karen Orehowsky

Richard and Gina Patton

Kirk Perrow III and David D. Pugh

Walter Riley

Laurie O. Robinson and Sheldon Krantz

Dale Rosenbloom

J. Barrie Sellers

Rex Sinquefield

Paula Smith

Carol J. Smythe

Girardeau Spann

Simon Springett

William and Susie Taylor

Stuart and MarrGwen Townsend

Scott Wallace

Jan Warner

Phyllis and Ira Wender

Richard B. Wolf

Chic Wolk and Kristin Zethren

2008 Patrons of JusticeBoard of Directors

Julie Stewart, President

Scott Wallace, Vice President

Eric Sterling, Secretary

Paul Beckner, Treasurer

Jason Flom, Development Director

Carmen Hernandez, Member

Alfreda Robinson-Dawkins, Member

2008 Foundation andCorporate Sponsors

APC Components

Apple Pickers Foundation

Bernard F. and Alva B. GimbelFoundation

Blum-Kovler Foundation

The Chase Foundation of Virginia

Crawford-Doyle Charitable Foundation

Crowell & Moring LLP

JEHT Foundation

The Limo Almi Foundation

Mayer Brown LLP

Open Society Institute

Public Welfare Foundation

Wallace Global Fund

2008 Pro-bono Attorneys

Douglas Baker – Detroit, Mich.

Lynn D’Orio – Ann Arbor, Mich.

Terence Flanagan – Hartland, Mich.

Peter Goldberger – Ardmore, Pa.

William Hackett –Dearborn Heights, Mich.

Elbert Hatchett – Pontiac, Mich.

Edward Holmberg – Wyandotte, Mich.

John Holmes, Jr. –Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Patrick McQueeney –St. Clair Shores, Mich.

Frederick J. Miller – Oxford, Mich.

Douglas Mulkoff – Ann Arbor, Mich.

Corbett E. O’Meara – Schulman &Associates, PC, Detroit, Mich.

Margaret Raben – Gurewitz & Raben,Detroit, Mich.

Richard Steinberg – Detroit, Mich.

F. Martin Tieber – East Lansing, Mich.

Paul Youngs – Taylor, Mich.

Andrew W. Bagley, Paul Behrends,Matthew Fornataro, Charity GoodmanAllen, Thomas Hanusik, Theresa Lopez,Jonathan A. Moskowitz, StephenPalan, Kyler Smart - Crowell & Moring,LLP, Washington, D.C., New York

Kelly A. Bohne, Leanne K. Maxwell,Jason Stavers - Gibson, Dunn &Crutcher, LLP, Dallas, Tex. andSan Francisco, Calif.

Elizabeth De Luca*, Leon B. Greenfield,Adam J. Hornstine, A. Stephen Hut, Jr.,Marc E. Johnson, Perry A. Lange –WilmerHale LLP, Washington, D.C.

Kevin B. Huff, Gregory G. Rapawy –Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans& Figel, PLLC, Washington, D.C.

*No longer with this firm.

1612 K Street, NW, Suite 700Washington, DC 20006202.822.6700 | 202.822.6704 faxfamm@famm.org | www.famm.org