Attorney General Eric Holder, in what was widely reported by the fawning American press as an “historic announcement,” admitted much of what critics of the Department of Justice (DOJ) have long asserted. Holder, in a speech given before the American Bar Association on August 12, 2013, acknowledged that America’s rate of incarceration is unprecedented and unjust. Specifically, he said the U.S. prison population was “outsized and unnecessarily large.” His comments continued with the observation that “Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no truly good law enforcement reason. We cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer country.”
Holder also acknowledged the pernicious effects of mass incarceration. “Today, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. However, many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it." The speech went on to cite “unduly harsh sentences” and referred to mandatory minimums within the current federal sentencing scheme as “draconian.”
Attorney General Eric Holder garnered maximum publicity with a meaningless policy announcement
Holder’s comments were met with near universal praise from across the political spectrum. “It is potentially a very significant shift in policy,” said Bill Piper, the director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, a progressive group advocating the legalization marijuana. “And one that would save taxpayers money and increase public safety.”
Drug advocate Bill Piper was quick to applaud Holder’s announcement
“It’s a step in the right direction, though about five years too late,” says Grover Norquist, the anti-tax president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform. “Does it make sense to have a 70-year-old bank robber still in prison? At what point does keeping a guy in prison actually help? You want people in prison because they’re a threat to others, not because you’re mad at them.”
Grover Norquist met Holder’s alleged policy change with measured praise
Holder’s comments did not simply identify ills within the federal criminal justice system; specific policy changes were announced. Under the new policy, judges are alleged to have more leeway when sentencing nonviolent drug offenders without ties to large-scale organizations, gangs and drug cartels. If a defendant is charged with selling a controlled substance, they can be charged based on the nature of their crime and not forced to serve a mandatory minimum. There is currently a five year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of as little as 28 grams of crack cocaine.
Despite the predictable laudatory comments from Holder’s media myrmidons, a closer examination of exactly what is being proposed reveals the inconsequential nature of the changes. Holder’s announcement vests federal prosecutors with a wider range of discretion in the charging of drug offenders. Those “with no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or cartels” are now to be free of exposure to mandatory minimum sentencing. Part of the problem with Holder’s change is that this is exactly the sort of discretionary power that federal prosecutors have systematically abused. After all, what constitutes a “tie” to a drug organization or gang? These changes will most likely be used by prosecutors as an added inducement to turn those seeking leniency into cooperating witnesses against others and thus fuel the cycle of “snitching” that provides the backbone of the federal criminal justice system. Federal prosecutors can be reliably counted upon to assert their pathological belief that “power not abused is power unused.”
Holder’s proposed changes will likely increase the use of federal informants
Even more important, Holder’s admission that he is essentially overseeing an unprecedented mechanism of repressive prosecutorial overreach was unaccompanied by any plan for relief for those already maliciously prosecuted and over sentenced. America’s number and percentage of people incarcerated, coupled with Holder’s admissions, strongly suggest that he is administering a criminal justice system employing the most pernicious mass incarceration the world has ever seen.
Holder’s empty gesture was recognized as such by some. Bruce A. Dixon, editor of the Black Agenda Report, wrote that “After 55 months as US Attorney General, preceded by years as a remarkably vicious federal prosecutor, Eric Holder made what could have been a groundbreaking speech – if only he'd made it 50-some months ago and followed it up with four and half years of the persistent, wide ranging action needed to begin undoing and unraveling the prison state.”
Editor Bruce Dixon recognizes Holder for being a “remarkably vicious federal prosecutor”
Dixon continued his criticism of Holder by writing “Let's stand Eric Holder's and this administration's expressions of concern over mass incarceration alongside its actual record of exercising the power in its hands. When we do, Eric Holder looks a lot like a lying hypocrite, and the administration looks like it's playing black America for a nation of chumps.”
Dixon further observed that “for all kinds of reasons federal D.A.s don't exactly and often will not follow these (new) instructions. More importantly they can be quietly revoked at any time by this or any future attorney general, and none of it affects drug prosecutions under state law. That's a lot less than the sea change in the prosecution of the drug war you'd think happened if you watched CNN or MSNBC.”
Similarly critical was attorney Jeralyn Merrit of Talkleft. Shortly after Holder’s speech, she wrote “As U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., Eric Holder sought to raise marijuana penalties and restore mandatory minimum penalties for drug crimes. From the Washington Times, December 5, 1996 (via Lexis.com):
“Eric Holder yesterday said he will seek to make marijuana distribution in the District a felony and reinstate mandatory-minimum sentences for convicted drug dealers. Mr. Holder,...said the D.C. Council's vote a year ago to repeal mandatory minimums was ‘misguided,’ leading to a backlog in the court system. He also warned that the city is on the verge of an explosion in violence associated with the sale and use of marijuana.”
Talkleft’s Jeralyn Merrit cited Holder’s record as an extreme law and order prosecutor
The points raised by Dixon and Merrit highlight the hypocrisy of Eric Holder and the DOJ in general. Just weeks before Attorney General Eric Holder decried "unduly harsh" mandatory minimum sentences for certain low-level drug offenders, his DOJ told the Supreme Court there was no need to review the case of a convicted drug dealer sentenced to over 10 years in prison for a low-level drug offense. Michael Tigar, a prominent criminal defense lawyer who is representing the man, says the DOJ’s approach is hypocritical.
"Eric Holder is perfectly content to make a speech to the ABA, and yet his own department that calls itself 'Justice' is taking the position here … that, 'Gee, we feel bad about this, but no court has any power to do anything about it.' And not only that, but we're going to sit idly by and nobody that is a victim of these things is going to get a lawyer," Tigar told The Huffington Post. "Holder's got to walk the walk, to use the cliché, and he has an opportunity to say to the Supreme Court of the United States, 'Remember what I said in August? I meant it,'" Tigar said.
Famed defense attorney Michael Tigar continues to battle Holder’s repressive DOJ and sees no change in policy
Freeing one person from an outrageously long and unjust prison sentence appears to have not been a positive career move for the federal prosecutors operating under Holder’s direction. The focus on building one’s resume while prosecuting federal cases is arguably the most sinister trait exhibited by federal prosecutors. Federal prosecutors have proven themselves to be most adept at manipulating the press and generating self-serving positive publicity. Justice is forced to take a back seat to self-serving career advancement. Holder’s alleged policy change appears to be the latest manifestation of his quest for favorable headlines. Unfortunately, the net effect of his actions will fall far short of the lofty goals disseminated to the loyal media. In the end, the most significant impact of his “historic announcement” will be the positive publicity generated for Holder and by extension, Obama.
Eric Holder oversees the largest network of prisons the world has ever seen
Just as some elements within the press were beginning to assess the toothless effect of Holder’s newfound disdain for federal mandatory minimum sentencing, the entire matter was stricken from news in favor of a new story: the run-up to hostilities in Syria. The media blindly followed the administration’s lead as all other news quickly took a backseat to the unfolding events. In a series of choreographed press releases and statements, Obama and his underlings quickly ramped-up the rhetoric as the threat of military action loomed large.
Barak Obama, despite promises of “openness and transparency,” has installed the most repressive U.S. attorney general in recent memory
While it can hardly be viewed as a deliberate effort to move Holder’s announcement from the public’s attention, a subsequent event like Syria was inevitable. The relative brevity of the news cycle allows media manipulators like Holder to prevaricate with impunity, knowing that a new story certain to capture the public’s short attention span is right around the corner. Accordingly, his position on mandatory minimum sentencing is beyond being yesterday’s news.
Unfortunately, the admissions made by Holder have also been similarly displaced. It is an unprecedented event for a U.S. attorney general to admit he is administering a uniquely repressive mechanism of justice, or at least what passes for justice in the U.S. The mainstream media chose to regurgitate Holder’s prepared comments rather than explore his stunning admissions, but this too was counted upon by the DOJ. Their ability to control the message is near absolute, so there was really never anything left to chance. As long as this level of media compliancy exists, Holder and his minions can continue to lie with impunity. Even if the media’s reporting occasionally does not go as planned and takes on a life of its own, a story like Syria is always right around the corner, certain to throw off an easily distracted public. Holder’s latest pronouncement was never intended to receive the level of scrutiny an extended period in the public eye would all but assure.
(Originally published at Online Publishing Company, www.onlinepublishingcompany.info)