Lawmakers: Thousands Of Violent Felons To Be Released In November Under New Sentencing Guidelines

WASHINGTON — Thousands of dangerous federal prison inmates will be released in November as a result of the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision to lower federal sentencing for all drug trafficking and distribution crimes, two Republican lawmakers warned Tuesday.

According to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, the release will include inmates with violent criminal histories who committed crimes involving assault, firearms, and even murder.

Goodlatte and Grassley sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch Wednesday asking for more information about these inmates including a history of offenses for each offender projected release date, any known aliases of the offender along with the full legal name, the offender’s country of citizenship, and whether BOP has notified or intends to notify ICE about the release of any unlawful criminal aliens.

“It is our understanding that tens of thousands of federal inmates are eligible for early release as a result, and that the BOP inmate population will fall by more than 12,000 inmates by the end of fiscal year 2016. Overall, the Sentencing Commission has estimated that 46,376 prisoners are eligible for early release under Amendment 782 — with nearly 8,000 offenders eligible for immediate release on November 1, 2015,” they wrote.

The Sentencing Commission made a two-level reduction, through Amendment 782, in the base offense levels for all drug trafficking and distribution offenses that could impose mandatory minimum sentences in early 2014. Those reductions are retroactive and apply to every inmate in the custody of the the Bureau of Prisons. Thousands of inmates filed motion for sentence reductions in their jurisdictions within the last year.

Grassley and Goodlatte initially sent a letter to the Commission when changes to the sentences were first being considered last year, but say their requests for further information were ignored.

They wrote in their March 2014 letter, “We understand that the Commission’s objective is to lower sentences for so called ‘low-level non violent’ drug offenders who have nevertheless triggered mandatory minimum sentence by trafficking large quantities of drugs. However, this amendment would reduce the base offense level and corresponding guideline range for all drug defendants. The result of the Sentencing Commission’s proposal will be to reward drug traffickers and distributors who possessed a firearm, committed a crime of violence, or had prior convictions.”

Congress is expected to take up legislation relating to mandatory sentencing reform in the near future.

Via: Daily Caller

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Obama's Definition of 'Justice' Describes His Liberal Agenda

President Barack Obama speaks at the NAACP's 106th national convention at the Philadelphia Convention Center, on Tuesday, July 14, 2015, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)(

CNSNews.com) - "Justice is not only the absence of oppression, it is the presence of opportunity," President Obama told an NAACP gathering in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

In a speech focusing on crime and punishment, the president spent a few paragraphs defining justice as the embodiment of his liberal agenda:

"What the marchers on Washington knew, what the marchers in Selma knew, what folks like Julian Bond knew, what the marchers in this room still know, is that justice is not only the absence of oppression, it is the presence of opportunity. Justice is giving every child a shot at a great education no matter what zip code they're born into. Justice is giving everyone willing to work hard the chance at a good job with good wages, no matter what their name is, what their skin color is, where they live.

"Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act, justice is protecting that right for every American. Justice is living up to the common creed that says, I am my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper. Justice is making sure every young person knows they are special and they are important and that their lives matter -- not because they heard it in a hashtag, but because of the love they feel every single day -- not just love from their parents, not just love from their neighborhood, but love from police, love from politicians. Love from somebody who lives on the other side of the country, but says, that young person is still important to me. That's what justice is.

"And in the American tradition and in the immigrant tradition of remaking ourselves, in the Christian tradition that says none of us is without sin and all of us need redemption, justice and redemption go hand in hand."

Taking his points one by one, Obama advocates universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year old in America, and he repeated that in his speech on Tuesday.

As for goods jobs with good wages," the president is leading the push for a higher minimum wage; and he said on Tuesday that "continuing...subtle, bigotry" may explain why the unemployment rate for blacks is much higher than that for whites.

Fifty years after passage of the Voting Rights Act, Obama and other Democrats insist that requiring people to show identification at polling places violates their "voting rights."

To help more young people feel the love, Obama in 2014 launched an initiative called "My Brother's Keeper," aimed at "helping more of our young people stay on track."

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/27/remarks-president-my-brothers-keeper-initiative

And in the wake of the race riots in Ferguson, President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended changes in the way police interact with the communities they patrol. Obama has endorsed the recommendation that police officers work with children, taking time to read to them in schools, for example.

In his speech on Tuesday, President Obama said the nation's criminal justice system "isn't as smart as it should be. It's not keeping us as safe as it should be. It is not as fair as it should be. Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and we need to do something about it."

He wants to end mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, putting more of them back in the community: "We should pass a sentencing reform bill through Congress this year," he said.)

He wants to improve prison conditions for inmates, ending overcrowding, gang activity, rape, and the "overuse" of solitary confinement. He also wants to boost job-training programs for inmates: "Let's reward prisoners with reduced sentences if they complete programs that make them less likely to commit a repeat offense," Obama said.

He also wants voting rights restored to felons who have served their sentences, and he said employers should "ban the box" asking job candidates about their past convictions.

Obama will highlight his prison-reform agenda when he becomes the first sitting president to visit a federal prison on Thursday.

Via: CNS News

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