Pubdate: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2013 USA Today Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 Author: Kevin Johnson, USA Today Page: A1 HOLDER TO SEEK LIMITS ON MINIMUM SENTENCING Attorney General Eric Holder will call today for major changes in the federal criminal justice system, including doing away with some mandatory minimum sentencing policies that have condemned scores of non-violent offenders to long prison terms and driven up the costs of incarceration. In a speech before the American Bar Association, Holder will also push for early release of seniors and ill inmates who no longer pose a danger to society, yet require expensive special care. "The bottom line is that, while the aggressive enforcement of federal criminal statutes remains necessary, we cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation," Holder will say, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. "We must never stop being tough on crime. But we must also be smarter on crime." The attorney general's position echoes a rapidly evolving shift in law enforcement and penal policy that has been sweeping the states in recent years. Increasingly, officials are acknowledging that they can no longer bear the cost of warehousing thousands of non-violent offenders - mostly for drug crimes - who have been targets of especially harsh punishment starting more than two decades ago when crime was surging. Yet as states, including Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas, have reduced their prison populations by referring more offenders to treatment or probation, the federal system has continued to grow and now is at least 40 percent over capacity with nearly 220,000 inmates, according to the Justice Department. About 25 percent of the Justice budget goes to fund prison-related operations. "Almost half of them are serving time for drug-related crimes, and many have substance use disorders," according to the draft of Holder's remarks. He also notes that about 40 percent of federal prisoners are re-arrested or have their supervision revoked within three years after release, "often for technical or minor violations of the terms of their release." "Today, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities," Holder is expected to say. "However, many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it." Support for such changes has been building for months among civil rights advocates and lawmakers of diverse political stripes. In March, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., joined with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on a proposal to allow judges sentencing flexibility in some cases that would otherwise be subject to mandatory minimum prison terms. "Our reliance on mandatory minimums has been a great mistake," Leahy said then. Paul said the mandatory sentences "reflect a Washington-knows-best, one-size-fits-all approach," which violates the principle "that people should be treated as individuals." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom