US prisons are operating at 40 percent above capacity, with half of all inmates locked up for drug-related crimes. Attorney General Eric Holder has proposed changes to the criminal justice system that would reduce sentences for non-violent crimes.
In an announcement scheduled for delivery on Monday,
Holder outlined a plan to free up prisons and keep non-violent
drug offenders from ending up in jail cells. Under a major policy
shift, federal prosecutors will no longer push for “mandatory
minimum” sentences for low-level drug offenders, and will instead
send more people to drug treatment and community service
programs. Additionally, Holder wants prisons to release elderly,
non-violent offenders.
“Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long,
and for no good law enforcement reason,” Holder said in his
speech, which was released in advance of his 1 p.m.
ET delivery at the American Bar Association in San
Francisco. “While the aggressive enforcement of federal
criminal statutes remains necessary, we cannot simply prosecute
or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation.”
In his speech, Holder reflected a view long held by civil rights
groups that have advocated for lesser sentences for non-violent
crimes, claiming that the long prison terms have prevented
low-income and minority communities from advancing. Mirroring
that view, Holder said that “a vicious cycle of poverty,
criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and
weakens too many communities” and that “many aspects of
our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem,
rather than alleviate it.”
US federal prisons are significantly overcrowded, holding 40
percent more inmates than they were designed to incarcerate. More
than 219,000 people are currently locked up in federal prisons,
with nearly half of them serving time for drug-related offenses.
Another 11 percent are being held for immigration offenses, and a
large number are also being held for substance use disorders, the
Associated Press reports. Over the past 30 years, the US has
experienced a 500 percent increase in the number of inmates held
in federal custody.
Despite the numbers, federal judges have often been forced to
apply mandatory minimum sentences against their own will. Sens.
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah),
and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have introduced legislation that would
allow judges to exercise greater discretion in applying these
minimums in cases involving non-violent drug offenders. The
legislation, called the Smarter Sentencing Act or the
Durban-Lee-Leahy bill, was introduced earlier this month.
Holder plans to cite the lawmakers’ bipartisan proposals in his
speech.
“By reserving the most severe penalties for serious,
high-level or violent drug traffickers, we can better promote
public safety, deterrence and rehabilitation, while making our
expenditures smarter and more productive,” Holders says in
the speech. A study published by the American Journal of Public
Health in June found that the state of California saved $2,300
per offender over a 30-month conviction period by sending the
convict to treatment rather than a prison cell. The mandatory
sentences were adopted during the “war on drugs” in the 1980s,
but the US simply lacks the funds and the capacity to imprison
low-level drug offenders.
“Mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses
have played a huge role in the explosion of the U.S. prison
population,” Durbin said in a news release. “Once seen as
a strong deterrent, these mandatory sentences have too often been
unfair, fiscally irresponsible and a threat to public safety.
Given tight budgets and overcrowded prison cells, judges should
be given the authority to conduct an individualized review in
sentencing certain drug offenders and not be bound to outdated
laws that have proven not to work and cost taxpayers
billions.”
Republished from: RT