Ex-FBI Chief Works To Relax Drug Sentencing Laws

h/t to Michael over at Corrections Sentencing for this article about an ex-FBI chief who is working to end mandatory minimums on drug sentencing.

Louis J. Freeh, the nation's former top cop and a self-described "law enforcement guy," is leading an effort in Delaware to repeal state laws that require minimum prison terms for convicted drug offenders.

"Some people told me I'd be one of the last people they thought they'd see" pushing this initiative, said Freeh, who was FBI director from 1993 to 2001 and then served as general counsel to the former MBNA credit card bank until 2005.

Tiny amounts can make difference

Under Delaware's mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses, a quantity of an illegal substance equivalent to a few packets of artificial sweetener can be enough to trigger a minimum prison sentence, Freeh wrote in a letter in support of H.B. 71.

"Take one [packet] away and no mandatory minimum applies," Freeh wrote. "Add one and an addict faces a long term of imprisonment."

In a strong and robust judicial system, judges have the authority to craft sentences on a case-by-case basis, he said. Now, prosecutors are making the decision, upsetting the balance of power, Freeh said.

Freeh said the rationale when such laws were enacted in the late 1970s was to put drug kingpins out of business. But more than two decades later, it's clear that hasn't worked, he said.

"Drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before, and America's prison population has tripled to more than 2.1 million," Freeh wrote.

In Delaware, the prison and jail population has more than quadrupled in the last 25 years, Freeh wrote. The cost to support the rising prison population has soared to more than $200 million a year.

"Still, drug use has not declined and our communities are not safer," Freeh wrote.

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