14 Aug Attorney General Eric Holder proposes decreased use of harsh sentences for certain drug-related crimes
The attorney general said some issues are best handled at the state or local level and said he has directed federal prosecutors across the country to develop locally tailored guidelines for determining when federal charges should be filed, and when they should not.
The feds will dump an unpopular weapon in the war on drugs: minimum sentences for minor, nonviolent offenses, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.
“Today a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities,” Holder told a San Francisco legal conference. “And many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate these problems, rather than alleviate them.”
He said mandatory minimums often result in unfairly long sentences and “breed disrespect for the system.”
Holder is riding a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to give courts flexibility to save money, ease prison overcrowding and keep minor crooks from hardening in prison.
Tea Party Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have co-sponsored legislation that would offer federal judges more discretion.
The Justice Department spends a quarter of its budget on federal prisons, which are severely overcrowded, said John Malcolm, director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Author: Joseph Straw
Source: NY daily news