Holder Endorses Proposed Reduction of Drug Sentences

[ProSense]

Holder Endorses Proposed Reduction of Drug Sentences

WASHINGTON – Attorney General endorsed a proposal to reduce prison sentences for certain nonviolent drug traffickers during testimony before the U.S. Sentencing Commission today. The proposed change would reduce the average sentence for drug traffickers by 11 months. The commission will vote on the proposal next month.

"Our country’s top prosecutor continues to show his dedication to ending the failed, racially biased war on drugs," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. "With each proposed reform, we move closer to a criminal justice system that is smarter, fairer, and more humane. Attorney General Holder seems committed to making criminal law reform his legacy, and we’re eager to see what he does next."

Today’s endorsement is the latest in a series of sentencing reforms embraced by Holder. Last summer, he directed federal prosecutors to avoid mandatory minimum sentences for certain low-level, non-violent drug offense. He has also urged Congress to pass the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would significantly lower mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses and allow judges to use more discretion when determining sentences for non-violent drug offenses.

https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/holder-endorses-proposed-reduction-drug-sentences

[Wilms]

1. That seems fair considering the Administration let HSBC off the hook for laundering drug $.

At the same Wednesday judiciary committee meeting where Attorney General Eric Holder hemmed and hawed before acknowledging that the president cannot authorize a drone strike on American soil, against an American terrorist suspect posing no imminent threat, he explained why the Justice Department has failed to bring criminal charges against a single Wall Street bank. Mr. Holder suggested, as a Financial Times headline put it this morning, that some banks are “too big to jail.”

snip

As we wrote in an editorial after the no-indict decision, “when prosecutors choose not to prosecute to the full extent of the law in a case as egregious as this, the law itself is diminished. The deterrence that comes from the threat of criminal prosecution is weakened, if not lost.”

snip

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/banks-above-the-law/

[ProSense]

2. He later said:

Eric Holder Vows ‘Significant’ Financial Crisis Prosecutions Against Banks
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/21/2502501/eric-holder-vows-significant-financial-crisis-prosecutions-this-fall/

[Wilms]

3. Whooaaaa! "‘Significant’"

Wowz!

What's he planning? Prosecuting a part-time teller for taking too long a break?

[ProSense]

4. He's probably

"What's he planning? Prosecuting a part-time teller for taking too long a break? "

...talking about stuff like this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024515046#post9