Pubdate: Mon, 12 Aug 2013
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Pete Yost, Associated Press
Page: A2

HOLDER WANTS TO EASE PRISON TERMS

Favors Leeway in Prosecution of Low-Level Drug Offenders

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is calling for major changes to 
the nation's criminal justice system that would scale back the use of 
harsh prison sentences for certain drug-related crimes and cut back 
on imprisonment in other ways.

In remarks prepared for delivery Monday to the American Bar 
Association in San Francisco, Mr. Holder says he is mandating a 
change to Justice Department policy so that low-level, non-violent 
drug offenders with no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or 
cartels won't be charged with offenses that impose mandatory minimum sentences.

Mandatory minimum prison sentences - a product of the government's 
war on drugs in the 1980s - limit the discretion of judges to impose 
shorter prison sentences.

Under the altered policy, the attorney general says defendants will 
instead be charged with offenses for which accompanying sentences 
"are better suited to their individual conduct, rather than excessive 
prison terms more appropriate for violent criminals or drug kingpins."

Mr. Holder also will tout changes that will divert people convicted 
of low-level offenses to drug treatment and community service 
programs, and will push an expansion of a prison program to allow for 
release of some elderly, non-violent offenders.

Federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity and 
hold more than 219,000 inmates - with almost half of them serving 
time for drug-related crimes and many of them with substance use 
disorders. In addition, 9 million to 10 million prisoners go through 
local jails each year.

The attorney general's speech praises state and local law enforcement 
officials for already instituting some of the types of changes Mr. 
Holder says must be made at the federal level.

Aggressive enforcement of federal criminal laws is necessary, but "we 
cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer 
nation," Mr. Holder's speech says. "Today, a vicious cycle of 
poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and 
weakens too many communities. However, many aspects of our criminal 
justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it."

"We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and 
rehabilitate - not merely to convict, warehouse and forget," the 
attorney general plans to say.

Mr. Holder said mandatory minimum sentences "breed disrespect for the 
system. When applied indiscriminately, they do not serve public 
safety. They have had a disabling effect on communities. And they are 
ultimately counterproductive."

Democratic Sens. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Patrick J. Leahy 
of Vermont, along with Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand 
Paul of Kentucky, have introduced legislation aimed at giving federal 
judges more discretion in applying mandatory minimums to certain drug 
offenders.

Mr. Holder says these approaches - which he is calling the "Smart On 
Crime" initiative - are the result of a Justice Department review he 
launched early this year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom