Softer sentencing

Fake news about felon voting from Jared Kushner

Featured image I wrote here about Jared Kushner’s boast to big GOP donors that felons released from jail are registering to vote as Republicans. Kushner quipped, “I guess climate change is not their No. 1 issue.” The donors, all of whom are wealthy enough to protect themselves and their families from the crimes the released felons will likely commit, had a good laugh. No doubt, some ex-cons are registering as Republicans. The »

Kushner boasts that felons are joining the GOP

Featured image According to Axios, Jared Kushner told Republican donors that felons are coming out of jail and registering as Republicans. “I guess climate change is not their No. 1 issue,” Kushner joked at a donor retreat in Wyoming. Right, avoiding punishment for criminal conduct is the No. 1 issue for many felons, which is one reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Kushner cited recent statistics he said he’d seen »

Poll: Three-Fourths of Americans oppose core planks of leniency for criminals legislation

Featured image Liberal Democrats and squishy Republicans are renewing their push for legislation that would reduce sentences for federal drug traffickers and release felons from prison early. Majority Leader McConnell reportedly says he will bring such legislation to the floor, after the midterm elections, if it has the support of 60 Senators. If so, leniency legislation could pass even if the vast majority of the GOP caucus opposes it. There’s a good »

Obama commutes sentences of 55 more firearms offenders

Featured image Yesterday, President Obama commuted the sentences of 214 people serving federal prison sentences. Obama has now granted a total of 562 commutations — a number that the White House says is more than the previous nine presidents combined. Many of those whose sentences Obama previously commuted were convicted of firearm-related offenses. Earlier this year, Sen. Richard Shelby complained that 12 of the 61 recipients (just under 20 percent) of one »

Sen. Shelby: Obama has commuted sentences for 33 firearms convicts

Featured image Barbara Hollingsworth of CNS News reports that Senator Richard Shelby has sent a letter to Loretta Lynch criticizing the Obama administration for commuting the sentences of 33 criminals convicted of firearm-related offenses. “By my count, the President has commuted the sentences of over 200 of these ‘non-violent’ federal inmates, of which 33 were convicted of firearm-related offenses,” Shelby wrote. He also pointed to the hypocrisy of commuting the sentences of »

Eric Holder backs softer sentencing legislation

Featured image Former Attorney General Eric Holder spoke last week in support of softer sentencing for criminals. Holder called the sentencing reform proposals in the House and Senate “a historic opportunity,” though naturally he called on Congress to make the legislation even more lenient. Holder also disputed the existence of a “Ferguson effect,” whereby rants against the police have made some officers less proactive in their work, thus increasing the level of »