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Panel Clears Sentencing Reform Bill Despite Opposition

Although Attorney-General Jeff Session warned a day earlier that passing the measure would be a grave error that risked putting the very worst criminals back into our communities, on Feb. 15 Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) pushed a sentencing reform bill (S. 1917) through his panel without amendment, on a 16-5 vote. Grassley

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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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Judicial Discretion: The Good and Bad News

It’s heartening to know that the American public has gotten to the point where it almost universally recognizes the failure of mandatory minimum sentencing policies to make our communities stronger. But as greater emphasis is being placed on the importance of judicial discretion in sentencing, a new comprehensive study from the Bureau of Justice examining

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Drugs minus two equals the release of 6,000 inmates

The end of October will herald new beginnings for roughly 6,000 inmates whose sentences have been reduced under changes to federal sentencing guidelines. While it might be tempting to attribute these changes to Obama’s push this last year for prison reform, these policy changes stem from wheels set into motion quite some time ago. Under

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Changing tides on mandatory life sentences for juveniles

Important changes may be ahead for juvenile offenders convicted of murder in the state of Iowa. The Iowa Supreme Court will decide whether sentences of life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for juvenile offenders fall under the category of cruel and unusual punishment under the state’s constitution, thus prohibiting such practices. The case

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We need to “Ban the Box”

Stephanie George is serving as a stark reminder that despite recent prison reform announcements, we cannot be complacent and that the struggle for reintegration does not end outside prison walls. George had been given a life sentence for “letting her former boyfriend keep drugs in their Florida home” and assisted in his facilitation of dealings.

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Mandatory minimum sentencing: A tragedy of comedic proportions

Just as Obama did with his landmark speech at the NAACP several weeks ago, comedian and host of Last Week Tonight, Jon Oliver, has thrust the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing into the spotlight of public discourse. In a segment both critically astute and emotionally wrenching, Oliver demonstrated that comedians are amongst those taking most

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Can Obama set the US on the path to prison reform?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the passing of a landmark revision to the United Nations’ “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.” In it, I questioned why the United States, a key player in the revision process, had remained so quiet since the announcement, positing that the silence was in large part due

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3 Reasons to End Mandatory Sentencing

By Jason Pye / unitedliberty.org There has been a big, bipartisan push in Congress to right a wrong in the United States’ approach to drug policy. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act (S. 1410), a measure that would end mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses. Rep. Raul

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