The DOJ is going ahead with it’s program to allow Obama to bypass Congress on drug laws and release many drug offenders:
FOX NEWS – The Justice Department moved Wednesday to significantly expand the number of people eligible for clemency, issuing new guidelines allowing certain prisoners who already have served at least 10 years behind bars to apply for release.
The initiative is part of a broader Obama administration effort to ease sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole was expected to discuss the changes, which include six separate criteria inmates must meet to be eligible, on Wednesday morning. Among the requirements is that inmates must have served at least 10 years of their federal sentence and not have a “significant criminal history.” They must be “non-violent, low-level offenders” with no significant ties to major gangs, have a record of good conduct in prison, and have no history of violence.
Finally, the process will be open to those who likely would have gotten a lesser sentence if convicted of the same offense today.
“Older, stringent punishments that are out of line with sentences imposed under today’s laws erode people’s confidence in our criminal justice system, and I am confident that this initiative will go far to promote the most fundamental of American ideals — equal justice under law,” Cole said in prepared remarks.
He said the department plans to launch the initiative “quickly and effectively.”