{"id":72496,"date":"2017-05-12T10:21:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T14:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=72496"},"modified":"2017-05-12T18:56:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T22:56:20","slug":"y-sessions-issues-sweeping-new-criminal-charging-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=72496","title":{"rendered":"AG Sessions issues sweeping new criminal charging policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/c\/embed\/0eecab6e-3653-11e7-ab03-aa29f656f13e\" width=\"480\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By Sari Horwitz and Matt Zapotosky<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed his federal prosecutors Thursday to charge defendants with the most serious, provable crimes carrying the most severe penalties.<\/p>\n<p>The Holder memo, issued in August 2013, instructed his prosecutors to avoid charging certain defendants with drug offenses that would trigger long mandatory minimum sentences. Defendants who met a set of criteria such as not belonging to a large-scale drug trafficking organization, gang or cartel, qualified for lesser charges \u2014 and in turn less prison time \u2014 under Holder\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n<p>But Sessions\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/apps.washingtonpost.com\/g\/documents\/national\/jeff-sessionss-criminal-charging-policy\/2432\/\" shape=\"rect\">new charging policy<\/a>, outlined in a two-page memo and sent to more than 5,000 assistant U.S. attorneys across the country and all assistant attorneys general in Washington, orders prosecutors to \u201ccharge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense\u201d and rescinds Holder\u2019s policy immediately.<\/p>\n<p>The Sessions memo marks the first significant criminal justice effort by the Trump administration to bring back the toughest practices of the drug war, which had fallen out of favor in recent years with a bipartisan movement to undo the damaging effects of mass incarceration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis policy fully utilizes the tools Congress has given us,\u201d the attorney general\u2019s memo says. \u201cBy definition, the most serious offenses are those that carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"interstitial-link\"><i>[<a title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/how-jeff-sessions-wants-to-bring-back-the-war-on-drugs\/2017\/04\/08\/414ce6be-132b-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.6d570179ad3f\">How Jeff Sessions wants to bring back the war on drugs<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The new policy is expected to lead to more federal prosecutions and an increase in the federal prison population. In February, Sessions seemed to prepare for that inevitability, reversing a directive from previous deputy attorney general Sally Yates for the Justice Department to stop using private prisons to house federal inmates.<\/p>\n<p>Yates said at the time that doing so was possible because of declining inmate numbers. Sessions, though, said it had \u201cimpaired the [Bureau of Prisons\u2019] ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system\u201d \u2014 hinting that he saw a very different future for putting people behind bars.<\/p>\n<p>In speeches across the country, including his first major address as attorney general, Sessions has talked of his belief that recent increases in serious crime might indicate that the United States stands at the beginning of a violent new period. He has noted that the homicide rate is half of what it once was, but he has said he fears times of peace might be coming to an end if law enforcement does not quickly return to the aggressive tactics it once used.<\/p>\n<p class=\"interstitial-link\"><i>[<a href=\"http:\/\/apps.washingtonpost.com\/g\/documents\/national\/jeff-sessionss-criminal-charging-policy\/2432\/\" shape=\"rect\">The full memo from Sessions<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Sessions recently ordered the Justice Department to review all its reform agreements with troubled police departments across the country \u2014 which he says stand in the way of tough policing \u2014 and marijuana advocates fear he might crack down on the drug even in states that have legalized it.<\/p>\n<p>The Sessions memo was largely crafted by Steven H. Cook, a federal prosecutor who was president of the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys and is now detailed to the Justice Department. Cook was a harsh critic of the Obama administration\u2019s criminal justice policies. The implementation of Sessions\u2019s memo will be overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who has come under criticism in recent days for the firing of former FBI director James B. Comey.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-content inline-gallery-embedded\">\n<div class=\"pb-container\">\n<div id=\"f07JIBhJqY9Wfq\" class=\"pb-feature-ssi-single pb-f-theme-normal pb-3 pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-gallery-gallery\" data-pb-feature-config=\"gallery\/gallery\">\n<div id=\"gallery_84770\" class=\"wp-volt-gal wp-volt-gal-p-end-circular wp-volt-gal-promo-stub wp-volt-gal-on-promo-slide wp-volt-gal-embed-promo wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-hide wp-volt-gal-filters-enabled\" data-blurb=\"White House and Cabinet officials left strong impressions in the early days of the administration.\" data-category=\"National-Politics\" data-commercial-node=\"politics\" data-debug=\"false\" data-first-published=\"1492004063\" data-keywords=\"[Rex Tillerson, President Donald Trump, Sean Spicer, Ben Carson, Jeff Sessions, Kellyanne Conway, Betsy DeVos, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Omarosa Manigault, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, The White House, Washington, D.C., Vice President Mike Pence, Jeff Sessions]\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/js.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/the-trump-administration-moments-that-made-headlines\/2017\/04\/12\/7062518e-149b-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_gallery.html\" data-preroll-zone=\"\" data-published=\"1494591900\" data-section=\"politics\" data-show-interstitials=\"true\" data-show-preroll=\"true\" data-slug=\"the-trump-administration-moments-that-made-headlines\" data-subsection=\"\" data-title=\"Members of President Trump\u2019s administration: Moments that made headlines\" data-uuid=\"7062518e-149b-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9\">\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-main\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"wp-article-sharing\"><span class=\"wp-tooltip-button wp-article-embed\"><i class=\"fa fa-code icon-code\"><\/i><span class=\"wp-tooltip\"><span class=\"wp-sharing-copy\"><span class=\"wp-sharing-copy-input-wrap\"><input class=\"wp-sharing-copy-input\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; line-height: normal; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px; border: 0px; float: left; width: 119px; height: 30px; display: table-cell; border-radius: 3px 0px 0px 3px; color: #000000; background: #ffffff; position: absolute;\" type=\"text\" value=\"&lt;iframe width='480' height='700' scrolling='no' src='http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/the-trump-administration-moments-that-made-headlines\/2017\/04\/12\/7062518e-149b-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_gallery.html?_template=gallery-embed' frameborder='0' webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\/iframe&gt;\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><i class=\"fa fa-share icon-share-alt\"><\/i><i class=\"wp-sharing-button fa fa-facebook icon-facebook\"><\/i><i class=\"wp-sharing-button fa fa-twitter icon-twitter\"><\/i><i class=\"wp-sharing-button fa fa-google-plus icon-google-plus\"><\/i><i class=\"fa fa-envelope\"><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-container-table\">\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-top\">\n<h3 class=\"promo-top-title\">Members of President Trump\u2019s administration: Moments that made headlines<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-mid\">\n<div class=\"cell\">\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-mid-img-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/rf\/image_606w\/2010-2019\/WashingtonPost\/2017\/05\/09\/National-Politics\/Images\/05951191.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-mid-label\"><i class=\"fa fa-camera\"><\/i>View Photos<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-volt-gal-embed-promo-bottom\"><span class=\"cell\">White House and Cabinet officials left strong impressions in the early days of the administration.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"interstitial-link\"><i>[<a title=\"www.washingtonpost.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/some-are-puzzled-by-deputy-ags-central-role-in-the-drama-of-trump-and-comey\/2017\/05\/10\/e6f61c42-35be-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html?utm_term=.ee1700370426\">Some are puzzled by deputy AG\u2019s central role in the drama of Trump and Comey <\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The new policy revokes Holder\u2019s previous guidance to prosecutors to not specify the quantity of drugs in the charges they brought to avoid triggering mandatory minimum sentences \u2014 provided the defendant did not have a significant criminal history, was not violent, or was not a leader of an organization or tied to a gang.<\/p>\n<p>That was particularly significant, because large quantities of drugs typically forced judges to impose stiff sentences \u2014 10 years for a kilogram of heroin, five kilograms of cocaine or 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. Prosecutors, too, could use the threat of a mandatory minimum penalty to facilitate plea bargains, and some were irked that Holder\u2019s memo stripped them of that tool.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fRhS962VU92Wfq\" class=\"moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal pb-2 pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-page-newsletter-inLine\" data-chain-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-name=\"no-name\" data-feature-id=\"page\/newsletter-inLine\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-inline-unit codedNewsletter nl-bottom-hairline nl-top-hairline\">\n<div class=\"signup-module row inline-newsletter\">\n<div class=\"title-container col-xs-8\">\n<p class=\"headline\">Checkpoint newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagline\">Military, defense and security at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<form class=\"inline-newsletter-form\">\n<div id=\"nlilrecaptchadiv\"><\/div>\n<\/form>\n<div class=\"sign-up col-xs-4 open-sign-up\"><button class=\"sign-up-btn open-sign-up-btn\">Sign up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cook has said that the Holder memo \u201chandcuffed prosecutors\u201d and it limited when \u201cenhancements\u201d can be used to increase penalties, an important leverage when dealing with a career offender and getting them to cooperate.<\/p>\n<p>Sessions\u2019s memo says there could be exceptions, but those cases must be approved by a U.S. attorney, assistant attorney general or other supervisor, and the reasons documented in writing.<\/p>\n<p>The memo also directs prosecutors to always pursue sentences with the range calculated by federal guidelines \u2014 which are sometimes above even the mandatory minimums \u2014 unless a supervisor says it is okay to do otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be circumstances in which good judgment would lead a prosecutor to conclude that a strict application of the above charging policy is not warranted,\u201d the memo says. \u201cIn that case, prosecutors should carefully consider whether an exception may be justified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/sessions-issues-sweeping-new-criminal-charging-policy\/2017\/05\/11\/4752bd42-3697-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html?utm_term=.7396afe00ba4\">http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/sessions-issues-sweeping-new-criminal-charging-policy\/2017\/05\/11\/4752bd42-3697-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html?utm_term=.7396afe00ba4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}