Pubdate: Fri, 20 Sep 2013
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2013 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Sari Horwitz

HOLDER DRUG-SENTENCING POLICY MADE RETROACTIVE

He Extends Effort to Impose Fewer Stiff Mandatory Sentences

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday that he has 
directed federal prosecutors across the country to review and 
possibly refile charges in ongoing drug cases so that low-level, 
nonviolent offenders will not face severe mandatory sentences.

The policy change will be applied to suspects in drug cases who have 
been charged but not yet tried, as well as to individuals who have 
been convicted but not yet sentenced. The directive does not affect 
offenders already sentenced or serving time in prison.

As part of a sweeping policy shift, Holder announced last month that, 
in future drug cases, low-level, nonviolent suspects would no longer 
be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences. The 
Thursday directive marked an expansion of that effort, ordering U.S. 
attorneys to apply the policy retroactively.

"I am pleased to announce today that the department has issued new 
guidance to apply our updated charging policy not only to new 
matters, but also to pending cases where the defendant was charged 
before the policy was issued but is still awaiting adjudication of 
guilt," Holder said in a speech at the annual conference of the 
Congressional Black Caucus.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon said department officials 
do not know how many people will be affected by the new policy. He 
said Holder has asked for a survey of his 94 U.S. attorneys to 
determine how many cases will be affected retroactively.

"By reserving the most severe prison terms for serious, high-level or 
violent drug traffickers or kingpins, we can better enhance public 
safety," Holder said in his speech. "We can increase our focus on 
proven strategies for deterrence and rehabilitation, and we can do so 
while making our expenditures smarter and more productive."

The Justice Department's new policy applies to offenders with no ties 
to gangs or large-scale drug organizations and those whose offenses 
did not involve the use of a weapon or violence. Under the 
guidelines, the offender also cannot have sold drugs to minors or 
have a significant criminal history.

"Some federal drug statutes that mandate inflexible sentences - 
regardless of the individual conduct at issue in a particular case - 
do not serve public safety when they're applied indiscriminately," 
Holder said in his speech.

Holder sent a three-page memorandum explaining the new retroactive 
guidelines to his prosecutors on Aug. 29. The memo instructs 
prosecutors not to "disturb the sentence in a case in which the 
sentence has been imposed."

In the case of a defendant who was convicted but has not been 
sentenced, the U.S. attorney has prosecutorial discretion about 
whether to apply the new guidelines.

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

Although the United States is home to 5 percent of the world's 
population, almost a quarter of the world's prisoners are in U.S. 
prisons, according to the Justice Department. There are more than 
219,000 federal inmates, and almost half of them are serving time for 
drug-related crimes.

The new sentencing guidelines are part of a comprehensive prison 
reform effort that Holder said he wants to be part of his legacy.

Last month, Holder announced that the Justice Department would not 
challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington as 
long as those states maintained strict rules regulating the sale and 
distribution of the drug.

Supporters of the new state laws had argued that hundreds of millions 
of dollars had been wasted on a failed war against marijuana that has 
filled U.S. prisons with low-level, nonviolent offenders.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom