The U.S. Sentencing Commission has been directed by Congress to conduct a review of mandatory-minimum sentencing and issue recommendations about alternative sentences, the Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 12.

A provision in the defense reauthorization bill recently signed into law calls on the commission -- which provides sentencing advice to federal judges -- to conduct a comprehensive review of the mandatory sentences that have been imposed since the 1980s, notably for drug-related crimes. The review comes as governments have struggled to keep up with prison costs and more policymakers are looking at alternatives to incarceration.

"It's going to be a massive undertaking," said commission head William Sessions III. "In my view it's a very open-ended request."

The Sentencing Commission's last broad review of sentencing policy came in 1991. There are now 170 mandatory-minimum sentences in effect in the federal justice system, and most mandatory-sentencing cases involve drugs or guns, according to the commission.