Pubdate: Thu, 24 Apr 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Timothy M. Phelps

U.S. AIMS TO EASE PRISON TERMS

Justice Department Officials Announce a Clemency Program to Correct 
Injustices and Relieve Overcrowding.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Wednesday unveiled the most 
ambitious federal clemency program in 40 years, inviting thousands of 
jailed drug offenders and other convicts to seek early release as 
part of a new program intended to correct sentencing injustices and 
relieve prison overcrowding.

Though eligibility restrictions may limit how many prisoners are 
ultimately released to several hundred, experts said they had not 
seen such a sweeping use of presidential clemency power to achieve a 
policy goal since President Ford's amnesty for Vietnam draft dodgers 
in the 1970s.

The program is part of a campaign being waged by Atty. Gen. Eric H. 
Holder Jr. to scale back the use of mandatory sentences and reduce 
the overall prison population, particularly among African American 
drug offenders serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes.

Since taking office, President Obama has lagged well behind other 
modern presidents in granting pardons or commutations. But while it 
remained unclear how many prisoners would benefit, the program is 
likely to bring his numbers in line with recent predecessors and 
possibly push them far beyond.

What is most unusual is the move to solicit requests for clemency 
from prisoners and to streamline the process for getting applications 
to the president's desk.

Prisoners will be notified of the new policy starting next week, and 
they will be able to fill out an electronic survey that will be used 
to evaluate their application. Prisoners will be provided free, 
volunteer lawyers who answered a call to service issued in January by 
Deputy Atty. Gen. James M. Cole.

Cole also said Wednesday that the department's current pardon 
attorney, Ron Rodgers, would step aside and Justice Department lawyer 
Deborah Leff, a longtime prisoner advocate, would take his place.

Rodgers had been seen by some as an obstacle to approving large 
numbers of clemency applications. Volunteers will be sought within 
the department to help Leff and her staff process the thousands of 
applications expected.

The primary target of the program will be crack cocaine users and 
dealers who were sentenced under a particularly tough law that was 
relaxed by Congress in 2010. An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 prisoners 
would not be incarcerated today if they had been sentenced under the 
new law, though many of those will not be eligible for release under 
the program.

"Correcting these sentences is simply a matter of fairness that is 
fundamental to our principles at the department, and it's a 
commitment that all Department of Justice employees stand behind," 
Cole said. "The fundamental American concept, equal justice under 
law, requires that our laws be enforced fairly - and not just going 
forward. It is equally important that we extend this fairness to 
those who are already serving prison sentences for their crimes."

Experts cautioned that the department's stringent criteria for 
release would limit the number of those who would be eligible for a 
presidential commutation.

Prisoners must have already served 10 years and must be facing a 
substantially longer sentence than they would have received today, 
Cole said. They must have no violent incidents on their records and 
no affiliation with gangs or large criminal organizations.

The Justice Department did not estimate how many prisoners might be 
eligible. Although the program is not limited to drug offenders, Cole 
said "the vast majority" of those considered would be from that group.

Prisoner advocates welcomed the announcement and the change of 
leadership in the pardons office, but expressed concerns that the 
criteria might be too restrictive.

"We'd like to see the criteria expanded so more people would be 
eligible," said Jeremy Haile of the Sentencing Project, a Washington 
advocacy group. Haile said that although thousands of prisoners would 
probably apply for commutations, possibly only hundreds would be 
approved unless the criteria were loosened.

Some influential Republicans criticized the announcement, raising 
concerns about the fate of bipartisan legislation now moving through 
Congress to attack the same problem in a more comprehensive and permanent way.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), who 
most likely would have to approve any such legislation, attacked the 
clemency program.

"In an unprecedented move to dramatically expand the clemency process 
for federal drug offenders, President Obama has again demonstrated 
his blatant disregard for our nation's laws and our system of checks 
and balances embedded in the U.S. Constitution," Goodlatte said in a statement.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a key figure in shaping a pending bill 
to reduce mandatory-minimum sentences, cautioned Obama against 
"seeking to change sentencing policy unilaterally."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom