As prisons overflow, Attorney General Holder calls for new approaches | Hacker News Reader

As prisons overflow, Attorney General Holder calls for new approaches

startribune.com

4 pointsgenwin9 comments

I'm flagging because as http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html says, most stories about politics should be off topic.

This is of interest to me. We are constantly deluged by negative news about civil liberties and prohibition, I am interested to see something bucking that trend. This is the biggest change in the justice regime proposed in several decades, and the fact that it comes from the AG rather than some advisory panel is extremely significant.

It is of interest to lots of people. The question that we need to ask is not whether there are interested people, or whether the topic is of interest to people who specifically want to talk about the things that make HN special.

I would also be incredibly supportive if this change actually happened. However this is not the forum that I want to see filled with discussion on this topic.

If only our Founding Fathers had been smart enough to give one person, say, the President, the power to reduce or negate excessive sentences imposed by a justice system run amok. They could have given this power a snappy name, like "Pardon."

Amazingly enlightened view.

Before you go mistaking Holder for an enlightened person, remember that he's the head of the DOJ, so he's the one responsible for the DEA using information based on warrantless searches from the NSA to put even more people in prison.

And he's the boss of U.S. attorney Carmen Ortiz, who wanted to put Aaron Swartz in prison for many years. Perhaps the prisons wouldn't be so overcrowded if the DOJ didn't spend so much effort trying to fill them with people who are not at all dangers to society. Also, a very large percentage of people in federal prison are non-violent drug offenders.

You know, we had very high levels of incarceration before Holder ever came into office. US incarceration rates took off like a rocket in 1980 and have been heading up ever since, and you don't change 30+ years of momentum on a dime.

Also, a very large percentage of people in federal prison are non-violent drug offenders.

Exactly the sort of situation he is proposing to change, as mentioned in the news story.

"you don't change 30+ years of momentum on a dime"

Holder has been in office since early 2009; 4.5 years is a pretty significant fraction of 30 years. Why is he suddenly interested in this issue now? My guess is that the administration is desperate to divert attention away from the NSA's domestic spying and the NSA/DEA intelligence sharing.

This isn't the first thing they've done about it. Getting rid of the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine was a pretty big issue, plus there's been the financial crisis to deal with. The DoJ is severely underfunded.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com