New administration wants to hand out more time.
Sessions’ office releases memo to all 94 US attorneys calling for reversal of Holder-era policy
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office sent out a letter late Thursday to the nation’s federal prosecutors instructing them to pursue the most serious charges possible against most criminal suspects.
The move will send more people to prison and for much longer terms by triggering mandatory minimum sentences.
Officials at the Department of Justice said the new guidelines are a direct rebuttal of policies implemented under President Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder.
The memo is already being referred to as “the Sessions Memo.” The 94 U.S. attorneys were instructed in the memo to “charge and pursue the most serious and readily provable offense.”
These cases often carry the longest sentences.The memo also brings back into effect mandatory minimum sentences, which are expected to increase prosecutions and the prison population.
It is HUGE revenue to have people locked up. In so many ways. You are all correct…this is not the land of the free – that is a cruel joke we have been fed. The USA accounts for 5% of the World’s population and has 25% of the World’s incarcerated. That is disgusting. The increase in the USA’s prisoner population has grown while at the same time the crime rate has steadily decreased for decades. How can this be…? Because the majority of the incarcerated are from what most people would consider non-violent non-contact crimes. Nearly half the US Code now includes crimes that for decades were misdemeanors that are now felonies and carry hefty prison sentences. The USA also has the largest female prison population in the World (so it is not just men). Unlike many other countries, we punish instead of helping those who need it (for instance, opiate abuse). Incarceration not only affects the incarcerated but impacts the family as well. Just the financial burden alone takes years and years to overcome if ever. There are a few politicians out there that “get it.” They see the toll on humanity. The former president was one of them – he actually wrote a very interesting paper about it. Mass incarceration has always been at the top of his list. Unfortunately, the current administration ran on the premise that he would be the “law and order president.” When I heard those words I knew it would not be good and that the few improvements that had been made would be un-done. Along with others, this is a crisis for USA citizens. It WILL affect every family eventually if it is not stopped.