The Attorney General Addresses Mandatory Minimum Sentences

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Attorney General Eric Holder  addressed the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday,  September 19, and spoke eloquently concerning the “cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration” plaguing communities he called “predominantly poor and of color.”  Mr. Holder stated that the system is broken and referred to some sentences as  “unfairly long” and “destabilizing”  due to the application of mandatory minimum sentences.

Last month the on cases that involved drug crimes committed by individuals who did not engage in organized crime, sales to minors, and who were not part of gang related activities.  It appears that this move is not only limited to future prosecution, but that the prosecutors will have the opportunity to apply this change to individuals who have yet to come before a judge because the case is still in the works, or are awaiting sentence.

The Obama Administration is doing what it can in this area.  Clearly laws have to be changed since mandatory minimums are actually part of the laws that pertain to each crime in the books today.

Currently there are approximately 200,000 individuals in federal prisons alone.  The nation spends an estimated 80 billion dollars to maintain people behind bars.  As a result of this staggering cost,  an usual alliance between conservative republicans and progressive democrats has formed.  There is now proposed legislation in the Senate of the United States that seeks to change mandatory minimums involving some types of sentences.