Holder attacking racial disparities in ‘war on drugs’

By Joyce Jones
Contributing Writer

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – It is widely believed that African Americans have been the dominant casualties of the nation’s so-called War on Drugs. Even though white and Black people use drugs at the same rate and whites are more likely to sell drugs, Blacks are far more likely to be arrested for selling or possession and to receive harsher sentences.

In remarks delivered at the National Press Club Feb. 17, Attorney General Eric Holder hailed efforts by the Obama administration and his Justice Department that aim to make arrests and sentencing on drug charges more equitable. He pointed to new data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which promotes reducing federal sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, to show that his Smart on Crime initiative is working.

The bottom line: Federal prosecutors are bringing fewer illegal drug cases to court and seeking mandatory minimum sentences less often for nonviolent crimes.

“For years prior to this administration, federal prosecutors were not only encouraged – but required – to always seek the most severe prison sentence possible for all drug cases, no matter the relative risk they posed to public safety. I have made a break from that philosophy,” Holder said. “While old habits are hard to break, these numbers show that a dramatic shift is underway in the mindset of prosecutors handling nonviolent drug offenses. I believe we have taken steps to institutionalize this fairer, more practical approach such that it will endure for years to come.”

A review of the period between 2013 and 2014, he added, shows that 1,400 fewer individuals were charged with drug trafficking offenses, a reduction of more than six percent. In addition, while the average minimum sentence has risen from 96 months to 98 months, Holder says that means “the most serious drug crimes are now attracting the highest scrutiny.”

The attorney general called on states and Congress to enact laws that are consistent with the Smart on Crime initiative. Indeed, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, has introduced the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015, which would give judges more discretion in sentencing nonviolent drug offenders. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) opposes the bill, however.

The attorney general also expressed hope that he will be able to announce a decision regarding investigations into the conduct of former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown and practices and patterns within the Ferguson Police Department.

“My hope is that we will do this before I leave office, and I’m confident that we will do that – though I guess it’s ultimately up to Congress as to when I actually leave office,” Holder said. “You would think, in some ways, that [Loretta Lynch’s confirmation] would be sped up, given their desire to see me out of office. But be that as it may, logic has never been necessarily a guide up there.”

The attorney general also defended his recent call for better tracking of incidents of police use of force. Tragedies like the deaths of Brown and Eric Garner in Staten Island “stir the nation” and give people a “sense that things are amiss,” but they are not a true sense of the overall problem, including any violence directed at the police.

“So I think that gathering that information in both ways – how are police using force, what kind of force are police having to deal with, what is being directed against them – that kind of data should be gathered,” Holder said. “We can have a much better sense of what the problem looks like in our country and then [create] policy based on the empirical evidence that we’re able to gather.”

This article originally published in the March 2, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.