Alcohol, Drug Problems May Be Dropped from Sentencing Considerations October 14, 2003
News Summary
Among the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recommendations to the U.S. Congress regarding federal sentencing guidelines is that drug or alcohol dependence should no longer be a consideration for a reduced sentence, the Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 10.The commission was called on to review the federal sentencing guidelines after Congress passed the Protect Act in April. The law allowed U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to order prosecutors to appeal any sentence that a judge issued that was less than called for in the federal sentencing guidelines.
The commission also recommended that restitution to victims by the accused, community ties, mitigating circumstances, guilty pleas, or plea bargains should no longer be used by judges to issue a lesser sentence than what federal guidelines mandate.
Eric Jaso of the Department of Justice said the panel's recommendations would have no impact on federal judges who ignore the sentencing guidelines.
But others say the commission went too far in removing certain categories, such as restitution and mitigating circumstances.
"The problem in sentencing is that sentences are too high, not too low - time and time again, low-level, nonviolent drug offenders are sentenced to decades in prison," said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
The U.S. Congress can decide to accept the recommendations without action, or reject them. In addition, Congress could also pass new sentencing laws.
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE: