"It will make reductions in sentences to be imposed on armed career criminals, and it will make those retroactive," said Cook. "That will mean that thousands of armed career criminals will be eligible for release from prison."Sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the sentencing reform bill enjoys strong bipartisan support. [Ed. note: How strong it is remains to be seen]. It would cut mandatory-minimum sentences for some offenses. Supporters argue it would save taxpayer dollars and ease prison overcrowding without endangering Americans.
But Cook said that contrary to popular opinion, federal prisons are not filled with nonviolent drug users caught with a little bit of marijuana.
"That is not who's in federal prison," he said, pointing to statistics showing that less than 1 percent of prisoners are serving time for drug use.
This is a key insight, and one often overlooked in the media coverage of this bill. Overwhelmingly, the federal prison population is not there for pot and simple possession. It's there for hard drugs and trafficking.
Cook said the bill would reduce punishment for serial violent offenders, such as criminals who have committed numerous carjackings.
"It will reduce the sentences and, again, make those reductions retroactive," he said. "Again, thousands of violent offenders will be eligible for early release."
For those thinking that judges can be trusted to figure out who among the eligible deserves release, and who doesn't, take another look at the Evan Couch "affluenza" sentencing (if you want to call probation for four vehicular homicides "sentencing"). Or you can look at 25 years of feckless, "victims-can-suck-it-up" sentencing from which the country suffered before we sobered up in the Reagan Administration.
Essentially, Cook asks if we want to head back toward the bad old days of the crime-laden Sixties and Seventies. The US Sentencing Commission already has us moving in that direction, with retroactive lighter sentences in train or on the way for not fewer than 46,000 federal felons, mostly drug pushers. We shall see in the next few months whether the Republican-led Congress wants to add to the damage.
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