© 2025 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Sessions Orders Prosecutors To Seek 'Most Serious, Readily Provable Offense'

Published May 12, 2017 at 1:06 PM EDT
Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to be introduced during a Bureau of Prisons Correctional Worker's Week Memorial Service at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on May 9, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to be introduced during a Bureau of Prisons Correctional Worker's Week Memorial Service at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on May 9, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo Friday ordering prosecutors to pursue the “most serious, readily provable” charges and the toughest sentences for drug crimes.

It’s a major reversal of the Justice Department’s approach under former President Obama, which sought to reduce sentences for non-violent drug offenses. Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with NPR’s  Ron Elving ( @NPRrelving) about the new sentencing guidelines.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.