Pubdate: Mon, 12 Aug 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Washington Post
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Sari Horwitz, The Washington Post
Page: 1A

AG TO AMEND DRUG POLICY

Holder Plans to Scale Back Sentences for Low-Level Offenses.

Washington - Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce Monday 
that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or 
large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with 
offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences.

The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison 
reform package that Holder will reveal in a speech to the American 
Bar Association in San Francisco, according to senior department 
officials. He also is expected to introduce a policy to reduce 
sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to 
prison for nonviolent criminals.

Justice Department lawyers have worked for months on the proposals, 
which Holder wants to make the cornerstone of the rest of his tenure.

"A vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too 
many Americans and weakens too many communities," Holder plans to say 
Monday, according to excerpts of his remarks that were provided to 
The Washington Post. "However, many aspects of our criminal justice 
system may actually exacerbate this problem rather than alleviate it."

Holder is calling for a change in Justice Department policies to 
reserve the most severe penalties for drug offenses for serious, high 
level or violent drug traffickers. He has directed 94 U.S. attorneys 
nationwide to develop specific, locally tailored guidelines for 
determining when federal charges should be filed and when they should not.

"Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for 
no good law enforcement reason," Holder plans to say. "We cannot 
simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation."

The attorney general can make some of these changes to drug policy on 
his own. He is giving new instructions to federal prosecutors on how 
they should write their criminal complaints when charging low level 
drug offenders, to avoid triggering the mandatory minimum sentences.

Under certain statutes, inflexible sentences for drug crimes are 
mandated regardless of the facts or conduct in the case, reducing the 
discretion of prosecutors, judges and juries.

Some of Holder's other initiatives will require legislative change. 
Holder is urging passage of legislation with bipartisan support that 
is aimed at giving federal judges more discretion in applying 
mandatory minimum sentences to certain drug offenses.

"Such legislation will ultimately save our country billions of 
dollars," Holder said of a bill supported by Sens. Richard Durbin, 
D-Ill.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; and Rand Paul, R-Ky. 
"Although incarceration has a role to play in our justice system, 
widespread incarceration at the federal, state and local levels is 
both ineffective and unsustainable."

The cost of incarceration in the United States was $80 billion in 
2010, according to the Justice Department. While the U.S. population 
has increased by about a third since 1980, the federal prison 
population has grown by about 800 percent. Justice Department 
officials said federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent 
over capacity.

Federal officials attribute part of that increase to mandatory 
minimum sentences for drugs, including marijuana, under legislation 
passed in the 1980s.

Holder does not plan to announce any changes in the Justice 
Department's policy on marijuana, which is illegal under federal law. 
Two states, Colorado and Washington, legalized marijuana in November.

The Justice Department has not said how it will respond to the 
measures in Colorado and Washington, leaving state and local 
officials unsure about exactly how to proceed. A Justice Department 
spokesman said the matter is under review.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom