Orrin Hatch: “former Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann has criticized the Senate-passed crime bill as largely irrelevant to any…”

“former Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann has criticized the Senate-passed crime bill as largely irrelevant to any realistic law enforcement effort, disparaging, among other things, Republican proposals to increase Federal prison construction. Mr. Heymann argues that the Federal Government does not need additional prison space because existing Federal prisons house so many nonviolent, low-level offenders who should not be in prison. He cites as evidence a recent Department of Justice study which finds that 21 percent--or 16,316--of all Federal offenders within the custody of the Bureau of Prisons are low-level drug offenders for whom there could be alternative punishments. This finding is questionable. For example, the study suggests that each of these 16,316 low-level drug offenders within the Bureau of Prisons custody are actually imprisoned. In fact, the 21 percent figure includes many of the nearly 5,000 offenders who are not in prison but who are serving their sentences in halfway houses or in-home confinement. When one digs deeper, one also finds that the study's definition of low-level offender is exceedingly broad. Low-level drug offenders are defined as persons who are not sophisticated criminals, meaning offenders who are not principal figures or prime motivators in the criminal organization or activity. In short, unless an offender is the leader or organizer of a drug enterprise, he or she is considered low level.”