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 The department expects thousands of drug offenders currently
serving time to be eligible for reduced sentences under the new
clemency guidelines and it will prepare to review an influx of
applications, Holder said in a video address.
Under U.S. law, the president can reduce sentences or pardon
Americans serving sentences for federal crimes. The Justice
Department will now recommend more candidates for the president's
consideration.
Details of the new criteria will be announced later this week by
Deputy Attorney General James Cole.
Holder hinted the guidelines may include applying a 2010 law that
reduced sentences for crack cocaine offenders to those sentenced
before the law was enacted.
"There are still too many people in federal prison who were
sentenced under the old regime and who, as a result, will have to
spend far more time in prison than they would if sentenced today for
exactly the same crime," Holder said in his address.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a press briefing on Monday
that President Barack Obama asked the Department of Justice to widen
the clemency guidelines.
"The president wants to make sure that everyone has a fair shot into
the clemency system, and he has asked the Department of Justice to
set up a process aimed at ensuring that anyone who has a good case
for commutation has their application seen and evaluated
thoroughly," Carney said.
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Granting clemency to nonviolent drug offenders is part of the Obama
administration's strategy to reduce spending on federal prisons by
reducing the number of inmates serving time for nonviolent drug
crimes.
Last year, Holder launched the "Smart on Crime" initiative to review
the criminal justice system and look for ways to make spending on
prisons more efficient by focusing on violent offenders.
Some Republicans in Congress say more lenient sentences would
reverse a drop in crime seen in recent decades.
In 2010, nearly half of 216,000 federal inmates were serving time
for drug-related crimes, according to Department of Justice data.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards; additional reporting by Steve Holland;
editing by Doina Chiacu and Paul Simao)
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