The acting attorney general under President Joe Biden has rescinded the Trump administration’s charging and sentencing policy, which mandated that federal prosecutors almost always pursue the harshest charges and stiffest penalties (article available here).
In a memo to all federal prosecutors, acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson rescinded a May 10, 2017, memo from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. At the time, Sessions told federal prosecutors across the country to always pursue to harshest charges and penalties possible unless they received specific permission from their supervisors.
Acting AG Wilkinson reinstated AG Holder’s May 19, 2010 charging policy, which directs prosecutors to conduct an individualized assessment of relevant facts in making charging and sentencing decisions. The Wilkinson memo “supersedes any conflicting Justice Manual provisions.”
“The goal of this interim step is to ensure that decisions about charging, plea agreements, and advocacy at sentencing are based on the merits of each case and reflect an individualized assessment of relevant facts while longer-term policy is formulated,” Wilkinson wrote.
President Biden has nominated current federal appellate judge Merrick Garland for attorney general, Lisa Monaco for deputy attorney general and Vanita Gupta for associate attorney general.