What Obama's drug law reforms will (and won't) do

As is, "too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason," says Attorney General Eric Holder

Activists at a June 17 rally in Washington, D.C. calling on President Obama to end the War on Drugs.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder is announcing a pretty big change in the way the Justice Department prosecutes minor drug cases. The new approach is meant to send fewer low-level, nonviolent drug users to federal prison, part of a broader effort to reduce America's bulging prison population.

The headline change seem pretty minor — Holder is ordering federal prosecutors to stop writing down the amount of drugs in certain types of small-fry cases — but the effect could be pretty dramatic. Federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws enacted in the 1980s and '90s make it so judges and juries have to hand down tough sentences for some relatively minor infractions. Charlie Savage at The New York Times gives an example of how the new guidelines should change that:

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.