Don #39;t write about our Fast and furious cover up, says the ATF.
Obama #39;s and Eric Holder #39;s ATF is blocking Fast Furious whistleblower John Dodson from releasing a both on the scandal. ATF blocking Fast Furious whistleb...
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Don't write about our Fast and furious cover up, says the ATF. - Video
US Attorney General Eric Holder Supports Opiates Overdose Awareness
US Attorney General Eric Holder Supports Opiates Overdose Awareness. Visit http://odawalk.com for info on opiate overdose and the 1st Annual Quad Cities Over...
By: Soldierette
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US Attorney General Eric Holder Supports Opiates Overdose Awareness - Video
Politics justice Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at a press conference on April 1, 2014 in New York. Andrew BurtonGetty Images
The Obama Administration continued its push to reduce the number of prisoners serving long sentences as a result of the nations federal drug laws on Monday with an announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder describing new rules that would expand the pool of convicts eligible to apply for presidential clemency.
In a video released by the Department of Justice, Holder said they will expand the existing criteria government attorneys use to consider which offenders may be eligible for clemency. Later this week Deputy Attorney General James Cole will announce the new criteria, which Holder expects will lead thousands to apply to receive reduced sentences.
This new and improved approach will make the criteria for clemency recommendation more expansive, Holder said. This will allow the Department of Justice and the president to consider requests from a larger field of eligible individuals.
Throughout 2013, the Obama Administration began taking a piecemeal approach to reforming the nations drug laws as a part of Obamas Smart on Crime initiative. In late 2013, Obama commuted the sentences of eight crack-cocaine offenders who had been serving lengthy sentences that would have been shortened under updated legislation. And last week, Obama commuted the sentence of another former drug prisoner whose sentence was lengthened as a result of a typo.
Former pardon attorneys and experts have said many of prisoners with similar cases are currently serving lengthy sentences, and Holder said Monday he expects thousands of applications for clemency as a result of the expanded criteria. Both the White House and the Justice Department have so far declined to estimate the number of clemencies the new criteria and increase in applications could produce.
In order to keep up with the influx of applications, Holder says the Department of Justice will assign more lawyers to review the applications. As a society, we pay much too high a price whenever our system fails to deliver the just outcomes necessary to deter and punish crime, to keep us safe, and to ensure that those who have paid their debts have a chance to become productive citizens, Holder said. Our expanded clemency application process will aid in this effort. And it will advance the aims of our innovative new Smart on Crime initiative to strengthen the criminal justice system, promote public safety, and deliver on the promise of equal justice under law.
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Holder: U.S. To Make More Convicts Eligible for Presidential Clemency
hide captionPresident Obama signs the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010, as Attorney General Eric Holder and a bipartisan group of senators look on.
President Obama signs the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010, as Attorney General Eric Holder and a bipartisan group of senators look on.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the Obama administration is formulating new rules that would give it, and the president, far more latitude to pardon or reduce the sentences of thousands of drug offenders serving long federal prison sentences.
The move comes amid a broad national reconsideration of mandatory minimum sentences approved by Congress in 1986, when America's big cities were in the grip of a crack cocaine-fueled crime wave.
"The White House has indicated it wants to consider additional clemency applications, to restore a degree of justice, fairness, and proportionality for deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety," Holder said in an online video statement released midday Monday.
"The Justice Department is committed to recommending as many qualified applicants as possible for reduced sentences," he said.
In anticipation of a massive influx of applications from federal prisoners seeking clemency or a reduction in their drug-related prison terms, the Justice Department will create a team of lawyers with backgrounds in prosecution and defense, the administration says, to review the applications.
Further detail about "expanded criteria" used to review the particular situations of drug offenders seeking relief through the program will be released later this week, according the department.
The Justice Department has already held meetings with defense lawyers and interest groups in an effort to identify the cases of worthy prisoners who could qualify for clemency. The administration is looking at inmates who have "clean records, no significant ties to gangs or violence, and who are serving decades behind bars for relatively low-level offenses."
The administration's move Monday comes four years after Obama signed the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, which was designed to reduce the disparity between sentencing rules for crack and powder cocaine. In a precursor to today's announcement, the president last December commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates serving long sentences including six with life terms for crack cocaine offenses.
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Obama Seeks Wider Authority To Release Drug Offenders
Stopping Mass Shootings - More Money Needed From Congress Says Justice Dept #39;s Eric Holder
Following the recent tragedies at a Jewish Community Center outside of Kansas City and at Ft. Hood, Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress Tuesday to ap...
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Stopping Mass Shootings - More Money Needed From Congress Says Justice Dept's Eric Holder - Video