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OAS Secretary General Praises Penal Reforms Announced by U.S. Attorney General

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza praised the reforms to the criminal justice system announced this week by United States Attorney General Eric Holder. In his view, these reforms "will benefit those non-violent offenders convicted for the distribution of minor quantities of drugs, who are not linked with criminal organizations, and who are charged with offenses involving mandatory minimum sentences." The proposed measures are designed, in his view, to strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law, alleviating overcrowding in federal prisons in the United States.

The OAS leader said "the Report on the Drug Problem in the Americas of the OAS shares many points with the reforms proposed by Attorney General Holder, " adding that "our report found that in almost every country in the Hemisphere there is a problem of overcrowding in prisons due to the control of drugs primarily through criminal sanctions." He added that "the implementation of stringent laws for drug offenses has generated negative consequences, such as the overloading of courts and prisons, and the suffering of thousands of young people incarcerated for drug offenses."

Insulza recalled that in the United States, the existence of mandatory minimum sentencing laws has contributed to an explosive increase in the number of prisoners for violations of drug laws. He noted that, according to the OAS report, "the situation has resulted in a huge financial burden for the country and a social problem with enormous consequences due to, among other reasons, the prevalence of racial minorities in the prisons."

"The fact that those most affected by the imbalance of crimes and penalties tend to be people in vulnerable conditions in American societies, who are the weakest links in the trafficking chain, makes the need for these changes even more evident," he said.

The OAS Secretary General reiterated, in conclusion, that alternatives to incarceration, such as drug treatment courts can compensate for damage suffered by victims, provide benefits to the community, treat people dependent on drugs or suffering from mental illness and rehabilitate drug dependent offenders.

Other options include pretrial services, specific programs for defense, deferred sentencing programs and medication centers. These programs, which are currently in use today in the United States and in several other countries of the Hemisphere, may also include, in a more direct manner, specific vulnerable populations, as well as young drug-dependent offenders.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-305/13