Bell: President Obama’s Release of 692 Virginia Drug Traffickers is Shortsighted and Dangerous

by Delegate Rob Bell

Last week, media reported that in 2014 drug overdoses killed more Virginians than traffic accidents. Unfortunately, recent actions by the Obama Justice Department will likely make this problem even worse.

As noted in the Washington Post, last year then Attorney General Eric Holder scored a significant “personal victory” in winning approval for early release of 46,000 federal drug offenders, which will begin at the end of October. DOJ spokesmen claim the changes apply to “nonviolent drug offenders,” an anodyne description that makes it sound as if the inmates were locked up for simple possession of a little marijuana.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

First, these offenders are in fact almost entirely drug dealers – defendants convicted of trafficking in illegal narcotics. (Even the White House admits that 99.8% of those serving federal time for drug offenses are drug traffickers.)

Second, the vast majority of these prisoners being released were locked up for our most serious drugs:

Cocaine (powder) = 27.2%
Cocaine (crack) = 20.6%
Meth = 30.9%
Heroin = 7.6%

And, as reported in Fox News, the early releases include numerous inmates with lengthy and violent records.

The early release of these heroin, cocaine, and meth dealers will have an especially big impact in Virginia, since 692 inmates who have already had their requests granted are from the Commonwealth. The first group will be released in Virginia on October 30.

Studies show recidivism rates for drug offenders are very high, ranging from 43% to 76.9%. This means many of the inmates released early will go on to commit new crimes or go back to selling the drugs that are killing Virginians in record numbers. While former Attorney General Holder takes the credit, it is Virginia families who will lose loved ones to drug overdoses and violent crimes – and ultimately Virginia police, prisons, and hospitals who will have to clean up this mess.

Problems with specific cases can be addressed by executive clemency, but this mass release – the largest one-day release in U.S. history – is shortsighted and dangerous.

In years past, Virginians would expect their leaders to stand up and fight for public safety, but this would require Governor McAuliffe and Attorney General Herring to call out Attorney General Lynch and former AG Holder. Not likely. Instead, the price will be paid by Virginia law enforcement and the innocent victims. We can do better.

Delegate Rob Bell represents the 58th District in Virginia’s House of Delegates. As a former prosecutor, Rob fought to keep families safe, prosecuting over 2400 criminal cases. As a Delegate, Rob led the fight against crime, authoring tough laws against sexual predators, domestic abusers, and drunk drivers, in addition to serving as Chairman of the Virginia State Crime Commission. Rob is also the co-author of Virginia’s Property Rights Amendment.

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