Pubdate: Sun, 06 Apr 2014
Source: Oneida Daily Dispatch (NY)
Page: B5
Copyright: 2014 Oneida Daily Dispatch - a Journal Register Property
Contact:  http://www.oneidadispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4546
Author: Nat Hentoff, Sweet Land of Liberty

U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL FINALLY GETS SOMETHING RIGHT

Ever since Eric Holder became our chief law enforcement officer, I
have described him as being Barack Obama's faithful vassal, who
supports the president's defiling of the Constitution. But recently,
there has been a valuable exception: Holder's call for reforming
America's prison system, a topic I have repeatedly covered. Holder said the
government needs to deal differently with the heroin epidemic than it
did with the crack cocaine crisis decades ago.

As reported in multiple media outlets, the attorney general spoke to
the American Bar Association in San Francisco last August. He was
adamant about the state of America's prisons:

"It's clear ... that too many Americans go to too many prisons for far
too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason. It's clear, at
a basic level, that 20th-century criminal justice solutions are not
adequate to overcome our 21st-century challenges.

"And it is well past time to implement common sense changes that will
foster safer communities from coast to coast" ( justice.gov, Aug. 12,
2013).

According to The Guardian's Dan Roberts and Karen McVeigh, the first
of the administration's common sense reforms would include keeping
"minor drug dealers" from serving "mandatory minimum sentences that
have previously locked up many for a decade or more" ("Eric Holder
unveils new reforms aimed at curbing U.S. prison population," Dan
Roberts and Karen McVeigh, The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2013).

Last month, Holder elaborated on this plan in testimony to the U.S.
Sentencing Commission, according to Teresa Welsh of U.S. News & World
Report.

"The measure," Welsh writes, "would reduce the base offense and
sentencing associated with substance quantities involved in drug
dealing crimes, reducing the average sentence by 11 months."

So the average sentence is reduced, but not by much. What's the big
deal? Well, "the change would impact almost 70 percent of all drug
trafficking offenders, as many who are imprisoned for such offenses
are nonviolent criminals" ("Should Sentences for Nonviolent Drug
Offenders Be Reduced?" Teresa Welsh, U.S. News & World Report, March
13).

Furthermore, small as this first step is, Welsh reports, "the
Sentencing Commission estimates that if adopted, the proposal would
reduce the Bureau of Prisons inmate population by 6,550." And dig
this: "The government spends almost $83 billion each year on a prison
system that has grown by 700 percent in the last 30 years. U.S.
prisons are 40 percent over capacity, and half of all inmates are
serving time for drug-related crimes."

Holder calls this a part of his "Smart on Crime" reforms, and he's not
alone in wanting to bring justice, of all things, to the boundless
"War on Drugs."

Welsh goes on: "This move has found bipartisan support in Congress,
with both Democrats and Republicans sponsoring a prison reform bill
also favored by the administration."

Anything "favored" by the Obama administration usually gives me no
confidence. But what are the chances that Holder's welcome reform gets
adopted?

It doesn't look good. Welsh gives you a sense of how rigidly stiff and
self-righteous the opposition is: "The National Association of
Assistant U.S. Attorneys, a group representing assistant U.S.
attorneys employed by the Department of Justice, said the drug
sentencing system does not need to be 'fixed.'

"In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the group said that
'we are winning the war against crime' because more criminals are
serving longer sentences. The association said no changes should be
made to current sentencing law until more is known about how it could
impact crime rates."

The Sentencing Commission vote on the proposal is due this month. If
the "Smart on Crime" reform passes, Welsh writes, it "would take
effect in November" as long as Congress does not voice any opposition. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D