A Sentencing Reform Turning Point?

For months now there have been signs that political will may be building for a change in direction in sentencing and prison policy. In one of the top news stories the past 24 hours (NYT and WaPo, among others), it's been reported that US Attorney General Eric Holder will issue a revised policy on when federal prosecutors will seek mandatory minimum sentences, seeking to spare low-level drug offenders from such heavy punishments. Holder will address the American Bar Association at their annual conference in San Francisco (10:00am TODAY, Pacific Time, e.g. any minute), and is expected to highlight the reforms. (The ABA has someone live-tweeting, and it's scheduled to run on C-Span.)

The move should bolster momentum for the Justice Safety Valve Act, sponsored by Sens. Leahy (D-VT) and Paul (R-KY), as well as the Durbin-Lee Smarter Sentencing Act, the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections and other efforts. In a sign of changing times, the conservative ALEC legislators and business leaders network has called for passage of the Leahy-Paul bill.

Phil will be posting a feature report in the Chronicle after the speech is done.