Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law rejects return to harsh sentencing for low-level drug offenses

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law rejects return to harsh sentencing for low-level drug offenses

Lawyers’ Committee Responds to Policy Changes Enacted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Extending Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Low-Level Drug Offenses

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released the following statement in response to a new directive issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructing federal prosecutors to pursue long sentences for low-level offenders:

“The War on Drugs in our country was a failure. Mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses perpetuate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, hurt families and communities, and exacerbate the mass incarceration crisis across our country. We reject Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s outdated and discriminatory tough-on-crime tactics.”

For more information about the Lawyers’ Committee, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.