The Government is Abusing Mandatory Minimums: How Law Enforcement is Ruining a Generation of Americans (Salon)
Salon, December 3, 2015
The Government is Abusing Mandatory Minimums: How Law Enforcement is Ruining a Generation of Americans
“Since the department began implementing the Attorney General’s guidance on recidivist enhancements, we have begun to see decreases in the number of times the application of those enhancements has been used,” emailed Justice spokesperson Emily Pierce. “We are still in the process of compiling and evaluating the data, but are encouraged by what we’ve seen so far.” The Justice Department, however, has apparently not yet changed its U.S. Attorneys’ Manual to reflect that guidance, even after The New York City Bar Association sent them a letter last December asking that they do so. “We can confirm that, to date, no such revision has been made,” emails Helen P. O’Reilly, an attorney and member of the New York City Bar’s Criminal Law Committee.
