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Reversing The Evils Of Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences: Is Clemency The Only Answer?, Melissa Johnson

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Thirty-five years ago, Alice Marie Johnson lived a full life. She was a wife, a mother of five children, and a manager at FedEx. Then divorce, the death of one of her children, and job loss shattered her world. Ms. Johnson was able to find employment as a factory worker, a role which paid only a fraction of her former salary and was insufficient to support her children. Desperate and burdened, she became a telephone mule for drug dealers. She was instructed to “pass phone messages [and] [w]hen people came to town . . . [to tell] them what …