The ACLU wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today about California's Prop 19 that would legalize adult possession of marijuana in the state.

The letter asks Holder and Kerlikowske to stop threatening costly litigation and the deployment of federal drug police to arrest individuals who might use marijuana if the state enacts the proposition, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use and allow cities and counties to regulate and tax commercial sales. The letter calls such rhetoric "unnecessarily alarmist" and says it does little to foster a balanced discussion of a legitimate policy issue.

"Proposition 19 would remove state criminal penalties for certain adult marijuana use," says the ACLU's letter. "The new law would not require anyone to do anything in violation of federal law. There would be no positive conflict."

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California mothers speak out for Prop 19 and marijuana legalization.

With a group of mothers around her, attorney Hanna Liebman Dershowitz uttered some words likely not yet heard in this wild election season: Legal marijuana is "safer for our children."

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What a mess. The U.S. Sentencing Commission implemented its emergency temporary amendments to the crack cocaine guidelines to comply with the Fair Sentencing Act passed by Congress that reduces the penalties for crack cocaine to be more in line with those for powder cocaine (roughly 18 to 1 instead of 100 to 1) and how did they do it?

They increased the base levels for amounts of crack that included the mandatory minimum threshold amounts from 24 and 30 to 26 and 32 instead of keeping them at 24 and 30. (Text of Amendments here.) What it means: Some crack defendants will see no change in their base offense levels under the Fair Sentencing Act, for example, those with quantities between 28 and 35 grams, 280 and 499 grams and 840 grams and 1.49 kilograms. (See page 9 of the Federal Defender's letter.)

There's also a big risk of double counting due to all the enhancements they threw in (some of which, like "violence" are not even defined.)

The Sentencing Commission asked for public comments on the change. They posed the question as: [More...]

There's a new Rand report, Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico that examines how Prop 19 and marijuana legalization in California might influence drug trafficking organization revenues and the violence in Mexico. The key findings:

• Mexican DTOs' gross revenues from illegally exporting marijuana to wholesalers in the United States is likely less than $2 billion;

• The claim that 60 percent of Mexican DTO gross drug export revenues come from marijuana should not be taken seriously;

• If legalization only affects revenues from supplying marijuana to California, DTO drug export revenue losses would be very small, perhaps 2–4 percent; [More...]

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today the Justice Department will continue to prosecute marijuana offenders in California, even if Proposition 19 passes.

The comments came during a joint press conference with Prop 19 foes, including Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, as well as former heads of the DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Cooley, who is running for state attorney general, has said he believes all medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal.

More on the press conference here. He gave the same response in a letter this week to the ex-Chiefs of the DEA who had written him in August requesting the Government stop Prop 19 from taking effect if it passes.

Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance respond. From DPA:

Under our system of government, states get to decide state law. There is nothing in the United States Constitution that requires that the State of California criminalize anything under state law. If California decides to legalize marijuana through the passage of Proposition 19, nothing in the Constitution stands in the way. In fact, Congress has explicitly left to the states wide discretion to legislate independently in the area of drug control and policy. States do not need to march in lockstep with the federal government or even agree with federal law.

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A new report by the Justice Policy Institute shows a lack of equal justice for Native Hawaiians:

In the first-ever investigation of the impact of the justice system on Native Hawaiians, researchers from the Justice Policy Institute, Georgetown University and the University of Hawai’i found that even when the criminal charges are the same, Native Hawaiians are sent to prison more often and for longer periods of time than most other racial or ethnic groups in Hawai‘i. Native Hawaiians are also more likely to have their parole revoked and be returned to prison compared to other racial or ethnic groups.

It's not just the offenders who suffer: [More...]

Prop. 102 is on the Colorado ballot and it's a terrible idea. It would require many defendants to pay to get out of jail.

[Prop]102 prohibits the release of a defendant on an unsecured bond to supervision by a pretrial-services program unless that defendant was arrested for a first-offense nonviolent misdemeanor.

Law enforcement officers, prosecutors and defense lawyers have formed a coalition to oppose the measure. Who is in favor of the bill? The bail bond industry. [More...]

Kansas has a problem. It's running out of prison beds to house male inmates:

No more. Kansas is officially out of beds for male prisoners, with a population last week of 8,411 — above the system’s capacity of 8,259. In 10 years, the state is projected to be nearly 2,000 beds short.

So Kansas corrections leaders have started talking seriously about two options: Either find millions of dollars to house more prisoners — at a time when the state is struggling to pay for schools and social services — or start letting them go.

One possibility: Follow the lead of Mississippi and grant earlier parole to non-violent offenders. Mississippi now offers parole after serving 25% of a non-violent sentence. This option might have public support:

In a project poll, 91 percent agreed with this statement: “It does not matter whether a nonviolent offender is in prison for 21 or 24 or 27 months. What really matters is the system does a better job of making sure that when an offender does get out, he is less likely to commit another crime.”

Missouri also has advocated less prison time. The Chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission notes:

“People who go to prison learn things in prison,” he said. “It’s time to talk rationally about how much punishment we can afford.”

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Via the Crime Report:

Violent crime in California dropped dramatically during the same period of intense immigration to the state, found a new study by Barry Krisberg of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, which is based at the School of Law. The study, which disputes the link between violent crime and immigration, also found that the increase in state prison populations is not related to the influx of immigrants.

Here's the full study, Where Is The Fire?

Data obtained from the Department of Finance and the Department of Justice reveal that during a long period of new immigration, crime has shown a large and steady decline in California.

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California's largest union, with 700,000 members, has endorsed Proposition 19, California's legislative initiative to legalize possession of marijuana for personal use.

The union did not say what resources it would provide along with its support.

Most union resources will go toward supporting Jerry Brown in the governor's race.

Other unions supporting the measure are the Northern California council of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union and Communications Workers of America Local 9415.

Some medical marijuana groups are now opposing the measure: [More...]

Rudy Giuluiani is up to his old tricks. Now he's touting federal anti-gang task force legislation.

Wrong answer, as usual. Rather than repeat myself:

• Senate Approves $1 Billion for "Gang Fear and Pandering Act"
• Report: Locking Up Gang Members Doesn't Work
• Calling All Conservatives: Anti-Gang Legislation
• Opposing the 'Gangbuster Bill'
• Feinstein and Lieberman: Two Peas in a Pod

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The FBI has released its annual report, Crime in America. For the third year in a row, violent crime is down. This is the 7th year that property crimes have declined.

The 2009 statistics show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 5.3 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, when compared with the 2008 estimates. The violent crime rate for the year was 429.4 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.1 percent decrease from the 2008 rate), and the property crime rate was 3,036.1 per 100,000 persons (a 5.5 percent decrease from the 2008 figure).

The full report is here. A summary is here. [More...]