Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday issued a memo to the nation's 94 U.S. attorney's offices urging them to take a stronger stand against violent crime, reports Politico.
But the memo also also calls for a tougher stance against drug crimes as part of the effort, a move which could reverse the more lenient policies of Sessions' predecessor Eric Holder.
"I encourage you to employ the full complement of federal law to address the problem of violent crime in your district," Sessions wrote in the memo that was first reported on by Politico. "Further guidance and support in executing this priority — including an updated memo on charging for all criminal cases — will be forthcoming."
Sessions notes that murder rates have increased 10.8 percent nationwide while prosecutions of violent crimes has decreased.
One of the tools prosecutors have to cut violent crime, he says, is going after the roots of violent crime, including prosecuting drug traffickers.
In 2010 Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama, called for prosecutors to stop seeking the most serious possible charges for drug offenses and mandatory minimum sentences. Sessions' memo is likely to reverse that.
"My take is the Holder memo is toast," Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman told Politico. "Holder said you don't have to charge mandatory minimums and it looks like they're going to say, 'Oh, yes, you do have to.'"
Sessions has previously expressed his doubts about states that have enacted laws legalizing marijuana, which remains a federal crime.
"States can pass whatever laws they choose, but I'm not sure we're going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery story," Sessions told the National Association of Attorneys General in February. "I just don't think that's going to be good for us."
Sessions has long said he does not believe the rise in murders is an aberration, but a result of the Obama administration backing away from tougher prosecutions of drug crimes, Politico noted.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.