Here's a recap of some of the good things Eric Holder did:
Holder supported reducing drug sentences , which Congress passed.
Holder pushed Congress for the reduction of crack cocaine penalties. Congress reduced them from 100:1 to 18:1. (Yes, 1:1 is the correct ratio, and we didn't get there, but the reduction was a big improvement. And he didn't fight the Sentencing Commission making them retroactive for most defendants.)
Holder issued a directive to prosecutors not to file mandatory minimum charges in drug cases absent the presence of aggravating factors. His reasons:
[W]e now refine our charging policy regarding mandatory minimums for certain nonviolent, low-level drug offenders. We must ensure that our most severe mandatory minimum penalties are reserved for serious, high-level, or violent drug traffickers. In some cases, mandatory minimum and recidivist enhancement statutes have resulted in unduly harsh sentences and perceived or actual disparities that do not reflect our Principles of Federal Prosecution.
Long sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenses do not promote public safety, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Moreover, rising prison costs have resulted in reduced spending on criminal justice initiatives, including spending on law enforcement agents, prosecutors, and prevention and intervention programs. These reductions in public safety spending require us to make our public safety expenditures smarter and more productive.
He directed prosecutors to consider recommending below-guideline sentences in some drug cases:
In cases where the properly calculated guideline range meets or exceeds the mandatory minimum, prosecutors should consider whether a below-guidelines sentence is sufficient to satisfy the purposes of sentencing as set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).
He took away one of DOJ's biggest hammers: The threat to add a recidivist charge if the defendant doesn't plead guilty. (For a defendant with a prior state or drug felony, that raises the 5 year mandatory minimum to ten, and the ten year mandatory minimum to twenty. Naturally, many defendants fold at that point, not willing to risk a mandatory 20 year sentence if they lose at trial. From his memo:
Whether a defendant is pleading guilty is not one of the factors enumerated in the charging policy. Prosecutors are encouraged to make the §851 determination at the time the case is charged, or as soon as possible thereafter. An §851 enhancement should not be used in plea negotiations for the sole or predominant purpose of inducing a defendant to plead guilty. This is consistent with long-standing Department policy that "©harges should not be filed simply to exert leverage to induce a plea....
If you want to see the kind of sentencing disparity the 851 hammer created, read this federal judge's opinion in United States v Young excoriating DOJ for using it as leverage in plea bargains.
Holder made the ultimate decision to let marijuana legalization proceed without challenge in Colorado and Washington. Holder favors removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances. (Lynch does not.)
Holder worked hard to have the 9/11 defendants tried in federal court instead of Guantanamo. He didn't succeed, but he has succeeded at having other extradited terrorists tried and convicted in federal court, showing we don't need military commission trials at Gitmo.
I'm hardly someone to cheer any prosecutor, and I'm not cheering Holder. I'm just saying for a prosecutor, his views are better than most, and he got some positive changes implemented.
I don't know much about Lynch, but her views on crime and the war on drugs don't seem to be as progressive as her views on civil rights. I may already be missing Eric Holder. As Joni Mitchell sang, "Sometimes you don't know what you've got till it's gone."
