U.S. Attorney General to Announce Scale-Back of War on Drugs
In a new policy shift which will be officially announced Monday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the United States Justice Department will
be scaling back the war on drugs, including ending the use of mandatory minimum charges for nonviolent drug offenders.
Attorney General Holder will announce the changes tomorrow at a speech being given to the American Bar Association in San Francisco; Holder will announce that the he is “mandating that drug offenders with no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or cartels and no history of violence won’t be charged with offenses that impose mandatory minimums”.
Instead, these individuals will be charged with crimes that “are better suited to their individual conduct, rather than excessive prison terms more appropriate for violent criminals or drug kingpins.”
“We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate — not merely to convict, warehouse and forget,” stated the attorney general.
The Justice Department will also be expanding a policy which allows certain nonviolent drug offenders to be released early if they meet “extraordinary or compelling circumstances, and who pose no threat to the public”.
According to Holder, these changes, which he is calling the “Smart On Crime” initiative, are the result of a Justice Department review he launched earlier this year; more changes are expected to come soon.
Although these policy shifts are a far-cry from an end to the war on drugs, they are still a positive step forward.
This announcement comes just days after Attorney General Holder admitted that the drug war has “unintended consequences”, and that “there are too many people in jail for too long”.
– TheJointBlog
Steven Campbell
Hodder should be horsewhipped for the pain and suffering his organizations have caused. He is a bad person who would not be missed if he disappeared into one of his maximum security prisons .
Paul Cardosi
5% of the world population with 25% of the worlds prison population. drug war = fail.
MCKersten
If this is indeed true, it’s good news to wake up to. A step in the right direction.
Jason Daily
This is a great step forward, regards of what people what to say about him personally. This positive step will reduce the large number of people being sent to jails for near pointless reasons not to mention releasing 1000s of people from jails and prisons that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Reducing sentences from a minimum of 1yr for certain crimes to potentially nothing but a fine (which is still stupid but it’s far better and shows that with enough work and effort you CAN actually influence the US government. Not as a whole perhaps but one by one is still a step forward)
Paul
I cannot believe a word Holder says. Historically when his lips are moving, he is lying. If he stops talking and actually does something constructive I will still be wary of what he has done. Although we speak the same language, his interpretations of the meaning of the words he uses are different than ours, they are paramount to “Doublespeak”. Time alone will tell if anything Holder has said so far has any truth imbedded in it. Since I am both hopeful and skeptical, I won’t hold my breath while waiting………
Russell Thomas
This will be a milestone. The step must be taken in order to save people from going to jail for no reason.