Tag Archives: Drug crime

Federal Civil Rights Commission Supports Bipartisan Sentencing Reform Bill

On October 13, 2017, the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a Statement supporting certain provisions in the Senate’s bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017.  The bill proposes to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent offenses, restore judicial discretion in sentencing in more cases, move sentencing levels down in many cases so that low-level crimes are adequately but not excessively punished, and make retroactive sentencing reductions in crimes involving crack cocaine prior to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.  U.S. Civil Rights Commission Chair Catherine E. Lhamon said,

The sentencing reduction provisions in this legislation are necessary to hew closer  to the fair administration of justice in our country, and ensure that the criminal justice system does not more harshly judge marginalized communities without basis. I urge Congress to take swift action to correct these injustices.

Established in 1957 by the Civil Rights Act, the Commission on Civil Rights is the only independent, bipartisan federal agency charged with advising the President and Congress on civil rights matters and issuing an annual federal civil rights enforcement report.

U. S. Commission On Civil Rights Calls For Sentence Reform

On October 13, 2017, the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a Statement supporting certain provisions in the Senate’s bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017.  The bill proposes to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain nonviolent offenses, restore judicial discretion in sentencing in more cases, move sentencing levels down in many cases so that low-level crimes are adequately but not excessively punished, and make retroactive sentencing reductions in crimes involving crack cocaine prior to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.  U.S. Civil Rights Commission Chair Catherine E. Lhamon said,

The sentencing reduction provisions in this legislation are necessary to hew closer  to the fair administration of justice in our country, and ensure that the criminal justice system does not more harshly judge marginalized communities without basis. I urge Congress to take swift action to correct these injustices.

Established in 1957 by the Civil Rights Act, the Commission on Civil Rights is the only independent, bipartisan federal agency charged with advising the President and Congress on civil rights matters and issuing an annual federal civil rights enforcement report.

Former U. S. Attorneys Take Stand Against AG Sessions’ War on Reasonableness

In a September 12th article from the National Review, entitled On Criminal Justice, Sessions Is Returning DOJ to the Failed Policies of the Past, two former U.S. Attorneys (Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and Carter Stewart, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio) contend that Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s charging and sentencing policies will not fix the complex problems that plague our justice system.

Those polices, established on May 10, 2017, direct prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” and then “disclose to the sentencing court all facts that impact the sentencing guidelines or mandatory minimum sentences” and “seek a reasonable sentence under the factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553.”  Vance and Carter argue that “this one-size-fits-all policy” does not work and “will roll back previously instituted changes that were beginning to reduce America’s prison population, the justice system’s costs, and crime.”

For a copy of the article, click here.   For a copy of the Attorney General’s May 10th charging policy, click here.  For charging and sentencing policies from previous Attorneys General, click here.