Justice Department to widen criteria to evaluate clemency petitions

US Attorney General Eric Holder had announced on Monday that the Justice Department is broadening criteria that the agency will be using to conduct evaluations on clemency applications. Holder also said that the reform will bring in thousands of new petitions from federal prisoners, Fox News reported.

The new criteria will be provided in detail later this week. Moreover, the criteria will reportedly aim at inmates who have been incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses. In a video message, Holder said the decision to widen the evaluation on clemency applications was to increase the US government's efforts to reduce the federal prison population of the nation. Moreover, it will also provide a chance for federal prisoners to become productive citizens after they have paid their debts for the crimes they have done.

"This new and improved approach will make the criteria for clemency recommendation more expansive. This will allow the Department of Justice and the president to consider requests from a larger field of eligible individuals," Holder said in the video message.

On the other hand, Fox News said that the announcement was part of the Obama administration's ongoing push to re-evaluate the sentences handed out to the convicted for their drug crimes. Officials reportedly believed that the sentences handed out to the convicts were unduly harsh and were done under the old federal guidelines. The guidelines back then were more harsh for crack cocaine convicted users than those who were imprisoned for the use of the powder form of the drug.

Last year, President Barack Obama had commuted the sentences of eight drug prisoners in December, Fox News noted. This January, the Justice Department had urged defense lawyers across the US to aid some of the prisoners convicted of drug crimes to prepare clemency petitions.

According to the Justice Department, it is expecting thousands of new applications due to the reform. It also said that dozens of extra lawyers will be tapped to handle such applications.

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US Attorney General Eric Holder, US Justice Department, President Barack Obama

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