How the Justice Department Can Really Save Us $$$

With budget-crunching all the rage in Washington, DC, government agencies have been asked to look at regulations and find out where money can be saved.  The Department of Justice -- which runs the federal prison system -- did an investigation and reported that it could save $60,000.

You read that right:  thousand.  Not million.  Not billion.

Those savings are small potatoes, certainly not enough to dig us out of our deficit or satisfy the Tea Party crowd and liberals and conservatives alike who are calling for a leaner, meaner government machine.

Here's how the Justice Department could really save taxpayers some money:  stop prosecuting low-level offenders.


It's not codified into a law or a regulation, but every day, Justice Department prosecutors from coast to coast decide who to charge, who to try, who to convict, and how long to sentence them to federal prison (thanks to mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which tie sentences to charges and tie judges' hands).

Those decisions literally cost taxpayers billions every year.

Over half the people in federal prisons -- to the tune of $28,000+ per prisoner, per year -- are there for a drug offense.  The federal government doesn't have to prosecute these drug offenders or put them in federal prisons.  All 50 states have their own laws against drug possession and trafficking, and the states are perfectly competent and capable of hauling in drug dealers off their own streets, prosecuting them in their own state (not federal) courts, and sending them to their own state (not federal) prisons (if necessary).  And many states, unlike the federal system, have begun using smarter, cheaper alternatives to prison such as drug and mental health courts to help offenders get clean, get jobs, and get past their illegal behavior.

Once upon a time, the people who founded our wonderful country gave a name to this division of labor between the states and the federal government:  "federalism."  But the Department of Justice often seems to forget that (1) it can't do everything, and (2) it shouldn't do everything -- especially when there is a state on hand to do it for them (and do it better and cheaper).

To be fair, there are some drug offenders that the federal government is better-equipped to track down, capture, and prosecute -- for example, people "Miami Vice"-ing giant boatloads of cocaine into Florida ports, or Mexican cartel kingpins that Texas's finest can't just hop the border and arrest.  But your average federal drug offender isn't one of these.  Read stories like those of Sabrina Giles, Derrick Caine, and Darlene Eckles if you don't believe us.  No international, fat-cat dealers there.

Federal prisons are expensive -- and overflowing.  They serve a purpose, and it's federal prosecutors who control who goes there (and, often, for how long).  If the Justice Department really wants to save taxpayers some money and help reduce our budget, they should begin by taking a good, long, hard look at who their prosecutors charge -- and by adopting charging policies that honor the principle of federalism.