US News

Holder: Slash drug sentences

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday urged the US Sentencing Commission to roll back prison time for nonviolent drug offenders — cutting their stay behind bars by an average of 18 percent.

It’s the latest in a series of bold moves by Holder to make changes in who gets prosecuted, how they get punished and who does time.

The change would affect 70 percent of all dealer offenders and lower the average sentence by 11 months, according to the commission, an independent agency that sets sentencing guidelines for judges.

The federal prison population would drop by 6,550 out of 216,000.

Holder said the change would “send a strong message about the fairness of our criminal-justice system” and would help rein in federal spending.

“This overreliance on incarceration is not just financially unsustainable, it comes with human and moral costs that are impossible to calculate,” Holder added.

The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of the prison population, the Justice Department noted.

For the change to go through, it would have to be approved by the commission next month.