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Texas Grandmother Freed by Obama Heading Back to Prison

In March of 2016, President Barack Obama granted Carol Denise Richardson a commutation of the life sentence she received in June 2006 after being convicted on two counts of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine and other drug-related charges. Her long criminal history included two previous felony drug offenses, which brought her a lifetime sentence for

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Federal Prison Population Dropped 13% In Four Years

A new analysis released by the nonprofit Sentencing Project is a classic case of good news and bad news. On one hand, it finds a widespread trend toward lower incarceration levels: the combined state and federal total number of inmates has declined by 4.9% since hitting its peak in 2009, and the Federal Bureau of

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Sessions Reverses Predecessor’s Memo Easing Drug Crime

  In a policy memo issued May 10, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told federal prosecutors he was rescinding “inconsistent” guidance his predecessor, Eric Holder Jr., issued four years earlier on what information should be included in filing drug charges. Holder’s policy, issued in August 2013, changed Department of Justice policy on how federal prosecutors analyze

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AG Sessions Maps How Feds Will Fight Violent Crime, Drugs

In a March 15 session with law enforcement officials in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined the administration’s plans to combat what he described as the beginning of an increase in the nation’s rate of violent crime. Breaking sharply from the Obama administration’s stand, Sessions said he plans to bring back aggressive federal

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Amount of Drugs a Factor for Departure Sentence

The Kansas Supreme Court reversed a prisoner’s sentence for possession of contraband – a small amount of marijuana – after it held the sentencing court misinterpreted its statutory authority by concluding it could not consider a downward departure to the presumptive criminal sentence. Prisoner Waddell Warren was convicted of introducing a controlled substance into a

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Thousands Await Clemency for Drug Sentences

Today — July 18, 2014 — an important vote will occur. The United States Sentencing Commission will vote on the 2 Point Reduction Law, which potentially may reduce the sentences of many federal inmates. In late December, the president commuted the prison sentences of eight inmates. The inmates that were spared were convicted of nonviolent

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