Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Matt Apuzzo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

HOLDER BACKS PROPOSAL TO REDUCE DRUG SENTENCES

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is endorsing a proposal that 
would reduce prison sentences for people convicted of dealing drugs, 
the latest sign of the Obama administration's retrenchment in the 
so-called war on drugs.

In January, the United States Sentencing Commission proposed changing 
federal guidelines to lessen the average sentence for drug dealers by 
about one year, to 51 months from 62 months. Mr. Holder testified 
before the commission on Thursday in support of the plan.

With the support of several Republicans in Congress, the attorney 
general is separately pushing for the elimination of mandatory 
minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. In January, the Justice 
Department issued a call encouraging low-level criminals serving 
lengthy sentences on crack cocaine charges to apply for clemency.

Since the late 1970s, the prison population in the United States has 
ballooned into the world's largest. About one in every 100 adults is locked up.

In the federal prison system, the one that would be affected by the 
proposed changes, half of the 215,000 inmates are serving time for 
drug crimes. Under the changes being considered, the federal prison 
population would decrease by about 6,550 inmates over the next five 
years, according to government estimates.

"This overreliance on incarceration is not just financially 
unsustainable," Mr. Holder said. "It comes with human and moral costs 
that are impossible to calculate."

The nation's prison population peaked in 2009 at more than 1.6 
million inmates. Since then, as state budgets have tightened and 
crime has hit record low levels, that number has declined each year.

Public attitudes have also changed. Twenty states and the District of 
Columbia have legalized medicinal marijuana, and Colorado and 
Washington State have legalized it for recreational purposes.

President Obama has said that marijuana is not that different from 
tobacco and no more dangerous than alcohol, and his administration 
has declined to stand in the way of legalization. Last month, Mr. 
Holder announced rules to help bring legitimate marijuana businesses 
into the banking system, which had been off limits.

About a third of the Justice Department's budget goes to the prison 
system, a fact that has helped Mr. Holder win conservative allies for 
sentencing changes. He met recently with libertarian-minded 
Republicans in the House and Senate, including members who oppose him 
on many other issues.

But Raymond F. Morrogh, the top prosecutor in Fairfax County, Va., 
said budget woes were no reason to make sentencing more lenient.

"Shouldn't we consider other areas of the federal budget to trim the 
fat off of, rather than roll the dice with the safety of America's 
communities?" Mr. Morrogh said, testifying on behalf of the National 
District Attorneys Association.

He said prosecutors use the threat of tough sentences to persuade 
defendants to cooperate and help the government unravel criminal organizations.

"Rewarding convicted felons with lighter sentences because America 
can't balance its budget doesn't seem fair to both victims of crime 
and the millions of families in America victimized every year by the 
scourge of drugs in America's communities," Mr. Morrogh said.

Mr. Holder has also described prison overhaul as a matter of civil 
rights. African-Americans are disproportionately represented in 
prison: They make up 13 percent of the nation's population, but 37 
percent of the federal prison population.

The crack cocaine epidemic is one of the main reasons the prison 
population has grown so much. In 2010, Congress voted unanimously to 
reduce the 100-to-one disparity between sentences for crack cocaine 
offenses and those for powdered cocaine. Blacks received harsher 
sentences under those guidelines because crack cocaine has been more 
popular in black neighborhoods, while whites have been more likely to 
use powdered cocaine.

The Sentencing Commission writes the guidelines that judges must 
consider. It is soliciting comments on the proposed sentencing 
reductions and will vote, probably in April, on whether to carry them 
out. Unless Congress voted to reject the proposals, the commission's 
changes would go into effect in November.

Until then, the Justice Department said Mr. Holder would tell federal 
prosecutors not to oppose any sentence that would fall under the more 
lenient guidelines.

"This straightforward adjustment to sentencing ranges, while measured 
in scope, would nonetheless send a strong message about the fairness 
of our criminal justice system," Mr. Holder said. "And it would help 
to rein in federal prison spending while focusing limited resources 
on the most serious threats to public safety."
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