Kim Ogg
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Friday joined 30 other sitting and former district attorneys in a letter protesting U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recent push for harsher sentences in America’s federal courts.
“This is a return to a failed policy of a generation ago,” Ogg, a Democrat, said of the directive. “It did not make the public safer then and it will not make the public safer now.”
A week ago, Sessions ordered that federal prosecutors should bring the toughest charges possible against most suspects, a move seen as a reversal of Obama-era policies that will send more people to prison and for much longer terms.
Prosecutors across the country, including Ogg, criticized a return to failed drug-war policies that would likely unfairly affect minorities and fill prisons with nonviolent offenders.
The open letter was orchestrated by Fair and Just Prosecution, a group that works with prosecutors around the nation.
Miriam Krinsky, executive director for the group, said in a news release that the letter reflects a trend among a “new wave of prosecutors nationwide who are rejecting excessively punitive policies in favor of data-driven and sensible approaches to improve public safety.”
You can see a copy of the letter here. I can’t find a website or Facebook page for “Fair and Just Prosecution”, so this is about all I know. Though the Sessions directive doesn’t affect local prosecutors, the Justice Department does set a tone, and it’s a bad one in this case. Pushing back is the right thing to do, and I’m glad once again to have voted for a DA who is willing to do that.
The solution is clear….legalize drugs and treat drug abuse as a health problem, not a criminal one.
We don’t lock up hard core alcoholics or social drunks, unless they commit a crime, like robbery, assault, or DWI. Drug abusers and recreational users don’t get the same courtesy.
We’re in agreement here. There is too much hypocrisy in the way the laws deal with drugs vs alcohol and I’d prefer that prosecutors have some individual discretion.