The Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council is telling Attorney General Eric Holder that the right people are in Arizona’s jails. This comes in response to Holder’s proposed policy shift in prosecuting drug offenses. The APAAC warned against applying Holder’s assumptions about who is behind bars in federal prisons to Arizona’s prisoners.
Holder asserted in a speech that the federal prisons are too full of low-level drug offenders and the money to incarcerate them can be better spent. Holder then ordered federal prosecutors not to charge non-violent drug offenders with crimes that carry mandatory minimum sentences. The Attorney General is also lobbying Congress for changes to sentencing laws.
The APAAC released a statement in which they argue that “the right people are in prison for the right reasons” in Arizona. APAAC based its conclusion on research it commissioned in 2010 and 2012 conducted by Dr. Daryl Fischer, a former Research Manager with DOC. The studies concluded that Arizona’s prisons are packed with violent and repeat offenders, not non-violent, low-level drug offenders.
According to the study, in Arizona the low-level drug offender is typically sent to a diversion program, and Arizona’s probation departments have been successful in keeping them from becoming recidivists.