Harsher prison sentences weighed by U.S.

Justice Department will send memo to prosecutors about minimum terms.

Justice WASHINGTON — Department officials have been weighing new guidance that could revive harsh mandatory minimum sentences, a reversal of Obama-era policies that aimed to reduce the federal prison population and show more leniency to lower-level drug offenders.

The guidance being considered under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is taking shape in the form of a memo that ultimately will be shared with the nation’s federal prosecutors, but the timeframe for release is unclear. Drafts of the memo have been circulating for weeks and have undergone revisions, so the final language is not yet certain.

A person involved in the discussions described a version that, as outlined, would encourage prosecutors to charge people with the most serious, provable offenses — something more likely to trigger the 1990s-era mandatory minimum sentences. Those rules limit a judge’s discretion and are typically dictated, for example, by the quantity of drugs involved in a crime.

Such a policy shift has been expected since Sessions was appointed and is in keeping with his toughon-crime public posture and repeated statements about running a Justice Department that enforces laws as they’re written. In 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft enacted a similar policy that directed prosecutors to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense in all federal prosecutions.”

Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Sessions has called for a review of all department policies “to focus on keeping Americans safe and will be issuing further guidance and support to our prosecutors executing this priority — including an updated memorandum on charging for all criminal cases.”

The new policy statement is likely to represent a major departure from a 2013 initiative known as “Smart on Crime,” in which then-Attorney General Eric Holder discouraged harsh sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenders.