On
April 10th the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously
to amend and reduce the federal drug sentencing guidelines. The Commission estimates
that approximately 70% of federal drug trafficking defendants would qualify for
the change, which would result in sentences being reduced by an average of 11
months. The articulated goal of these new guidelines is to reduce the large
prison population in the United States while at the same time releasing
individuals who pose no safety risk to society. The amendment drew more than
20,000 letters during a public comment period, including letters from members
of Congress, judges, advocacy organizations, and individuals. “This modest
reduction in drug penalties is an important step toward reducing the problem of
prison overcrowding at the federal level in a proportionate and fair manner,” said
Judge Patti B. Saris, chair of the Commission. “Reducing the federal prison
population has become urgent, with that population almost three times where it
was in 1991.” The new sentencing guidelines if not blocked by Congress will go
into effect on November 1, 2014.
Many
have criticized the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines as being excessive
and not serving their purpose of deterrence. In 2013 Attorney General Eric
Holder endorsed the sentencing commission’s decision to reduce the sentences
for less serious drug offenses. He stated in March 2014 before the Sentencing Commission
that “certain types of cases result in too many Americans going to prison for
too long, and at times for no truly good public safety reason,” referring to
non-violent drug offenses. He also pointed to the statistic that “although the
United States comprises just five percent of the world’s population, we
incarcerate almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.” Mr. Holder also
testified that the “focused reliance on
incarceration is not just financially unsustainable – it comes with human and
moral costs that are impossible to calculate.” ( http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/March/14-ag-263.html ).
This
new development comes on the heels of the Holder Memo referenced in our October
2013 email blast, in which the Attorney General released a memo to federal
prosecutors not to press judges for the most severe mandatory minimum sentences
for low level drug traffickers.
In
the Northern District of California, prosecutors and probation officers seem to
be taking the position that the anticipated-amended guidelines apply to present
cases. Accordingly, defendants being presently sentenced are being afforded the
two-level reduction in the sentencing guideline table.
Clemency Project
In
addition to amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines, the Obama administration has
been advocating for a change in the mandatory minimum sentencing standards. One
of the avenues open to the executive branch is the Clemency process: the
executive branch’s right to grant forgiveness to individuals who have federal
convictions. In April 2014, Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced a new
set of criteria the Justice Department and the White House will use when
considering clemency petitions from federal prisoner who, if sentenced today
under the current sentencing laws and policies, would have likely received a
substantially lower sentence. This initiative is expected to trigger tens of
thousands of petitions, and the government could be processing applications for
the next three years, according to lawyers and civil rights activists.
The Clemency Project 2014, which is a working group composed
of Federal Defenders, the ACLU, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the ABA,
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and individual attorneys, are
now assisting prisoners with clemency petitions. NACDL President Jerry Cox
said, "Clemency Project 2014 marks the beginning of the end of the age of
mass incarceration. We must seize this historic opportunity to start the
process of remedying decades of cruel and unnecessarily harsh sentencing
policies. I call upon the nation’s lawyers, especially the criminal
defense bar, to rise to this challenge in an unprecedented effort to restore
hope and the prospect of an early return to freedom for the countless deserving
individuals who are languishing in federal custody." To be eligible for
the Clemency Project, individuals must meet the guidelines set out by the
Deputy Attorney General. The individual asking for clemency must be:
1. serving a federal sentence;
2. serving a sentence that, if imposed
today, would be substantially shorter;
3. have a non-violent history with no
significant ties to organized crime, gangs or cartels;
4. have served at least 10 years;
5. have no significant prior convictions;
6. and have demonstrated good
conduct.
A
comprehensive training program for volunteers, to be conducted in June 2014, is
open to those wishing to volunteer to process the petitions, free of charge.
Again, thousands of requests are anticipated.
Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014
On
January 30, 2014, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2014 passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee. The Act would reduce the mandatory minimum sentences for drug
offenders by half; it would extend the “safety valve” to more federal drug
offenders as well as make the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 retroactive (which. reduced
the disparity between the sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine
offenses). If made law, the Act would expand the ability of judges to use their
own discretion when sentencing defendants, thus allowing further evaluations
into the unique facts and circumstances of each defendant.
With
respect to further progress on the bill, there is opposition by various
lobbying groups, federal prosecutors, and politicians. Individuals are being
urged to write to their senators and members of congress, for passage of this
Act through Congress.
Comments
Post a Comment