- Posted August 19, 2013
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Sentencing panel to focus on mandatory minimums
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission last Thursday voted unanimously to address concerns with mandatory minimum prison penalties.
The commission action follows a Justice Department policy shift that was announced last week. Attorney General Eric Holder said the department would target long mandatory sentences that he says have flooded the nation's prisons with low-level drug offenders and diverted crime-fighting dollars that could be better spent.
Last Thursday, the sentencing commission set as its top priority continuing to work with Congress to change federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
The seven-member commission wants Congress to reduce the severity and scope of mandatory minimum penalties and consider expanding a law that exempts certain low-level nonviolent offenders from mandatory minimum prison terms
"With a growing crisis in federal prison populations and budgets, it is timely and important for us to examine mandatory minimum penalties and drug sentences, which contribute significantly to the federal prison population," said Patti Saris, commission chairman and a federal judge.
The commission establishes sentencing policies and practices for the federal courts.
Long mandatory prison terms that apply to low-level drug offenders are a legacy of the government's war on drugs in the 1980s.
Published: Mon, Aug 19, 2013
headlines Oakland County
- Meet the Judges
- Phishing and Smishing and Skimming and Shimming: Nessel encourages public to watch out for common scams during NFL Draft
- 56 years later, bias case is closed: Hamtramck completes new housing
- Attorneys to explain new U.S. DOL rules
- Michigan employers, local partners spotlight Gov. Whitmer’s budget recommendations and benefits for Going PRO Talent Fund
headlines National
- New Legalese: You may have heard a deepfake, but what about ‘Twiqbal’?
- From Intake to Outcome: An in-house lawyer’s guide to matter management solutions
- 2 BigLaw firms in merger talks that could produce 1,600-lawyer firm with top 50 revenue
- Send in the paralegals
- Lawyer reprimanded after mistakenly emailing opposing counsel with plan to avoid judge’s call
- ‘I don’t play well’ judge who threatened to track down, jail misbehaving litigant gets tossed from case