{"id":153,"date":"2017-11-08T15:05:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T20:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=153"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:16:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T13:16:57","slug":"proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Florida Law Gives Judges More Discretion in Sentencing Drug Offenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In what is described as an emerging trend by the Tampa Bay Times, lawmakers are starting to either repeal mandatory minimum sentences or pass &#8220;safety valve&#8221; laws. The latter provides judges with more discretion in imposing a variety of punishments in minor drug cases, if certain conditions are met. These new laws could change the way that courts deal with Florida drug crimes, or at least change the length of jail time imposed at sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed law is a Senate bill brought forth by a pair of Florida legislators. SB 694 permits a court to sentence a drug offender to a sentence less than a mandatory minimum sentence if the following conditions are met:\u00a0 (i) the person did not engage in a criminal enterprise as defined in Florida Statutes Section 893.20(1) (a continuing criminal enterprise); (ii) the person did not use or threaten violence or use a weapon during the commission of the crime; and (iii) the person did not cause a death or serious bodily injury.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida House of Representatives\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2018\/481\/BillText\/__\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">version<\/a> is very similar to the one proposed in the Senate but with a few key differences. The court is required to at least impose a sentence of imprisonment that is &#8220;no less than one-third of the sentence prescribed&#8221; by the mandatory minimum sentencing statute. Separately, the drug offender cannot have certain prior convictions, including a crime of violence as defined in Florida Statutes Section 784.046(1)(a).<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/#more-153\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In what is described as an emerging trend by the Tampa Bay Times, lawmakers are starting to either repeal mandatory minimum sentences or pass &#8220;safety valve&#8221; laws. The latter provides judges with more discretion in imposing a variety of punishments in minor drug cases, if certain conditions are met. These new laws could change the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drug-trafficking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida Drug Sentencing: Judge Discretion Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Charged with a Florida drug crime? See how proposed sentencing changes could affect penalties and what defense options may help.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Florida Drug Sentencing: Judge Discretion Talk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Charged with a Florida drug crime? See how proposed sentencing changes could affect penalties and what defense options may help.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/proposed-florida-law-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Drug Sentencing: Judge Discretion Talk","description":"Charged with a Florida drug crime? See how proposed sentencing changes could affect penalties and what defense options may help.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Florida Drug Sentencing: Judge Discretion Talk","twitter_description":"Charged with a Florida drug crime? See how proposed sentencing changes could affect penalties and what defense options may help.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/proposed-florida-law-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders.webp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Proposed Florida Law Gives Judges More Discretion in Sentencing Drug Offenders","datePublished":"2017-11-08T20:05:45+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:16:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/"},"wordCount":510,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/proposed-florida-law-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders.webp","articleSection":["Drug Trafficking"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/","name":"Florida Drug Sentencing: Judge Discretion Talk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/proposed-florida-law-gives-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/proposed-florida-law-judges-discretion-sentencing-drug-offenders.webp","datePublished":"2017-11-08T20:05:45+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T13:16:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"description":"Charged with a Florida drug crime? 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