US lawyers on Tuesday accused the Attorney General John Ashcroft of trying to establish a centralized, arbitrary and draconian justice system after he issued an edict limiting prosecutors' use of plea bargains in determining sentences.
The policy directive issued on Monday was the latest in a series of measures Ashcroft has ordered to combat what he views as overly lenient sentencing in certain states.
"The direction I am giving our US attorneys today is direct and emphatic," Ashcroft said.
He said that new guidelines require federal prosecutors bring charges for "the most serious, readily provable offence" suggested by the facts.
The new guidelines allow exceptions in "limited, narrow circumstances," but they are expected to have a chilling effect on federal prosecutors' use of plea bargains, in which lesser charges are brought against a defendant in return for cooperation. That cooperation might come in the form of information or a guilty plea which ensures a quick trial.
The order could have a huge impact on the federal justice system. In 2001, the latest year for which figures are available, 96% of the cases handled by federal prosecutors resulted in plea deals.
Marc Mauer, the assistant director of the Sentencing Project, a judicial pressure group, said the new guidelines were unworkable. "If even a small fraction more defendants end up going to court because of this, it is going to cause an enormous backlog in the courts," he said.
"This centralization is disrespectful of the prosecutors. You can't have one-size-fits-all justice. You can't decide in Washington what charges are appropriate ... in Omaha."
Exceptions will be allowed if a cooperating defendant is offering "substantial assistance," or if going to trial would entail huge costs -- the reasons prosecutors normally give for agreeing a plea deal. However, under the new measures the justice department in Washington, rather than individual prosecutors, will decide which cases qualify.
"I can understand why he wants more consistency," said Robert Johnson, a Minnesota state prosecutor. "But I'm sure its going to cause some concern in US attorneys' offices in that it will take away their independent judgment as to what it is appropriate in a given situation."
Ashcroft has previously insisted that federal prosecutors in traditionally lenient states seek the death penalty wherever it might apply, arguing that he was trying to impose greater uniformity in the use of capital punishment and greater "accountability" from prosecutors.
Last month, the attorney general announced a plan to track the decisions of judges known to give lighter sentences than those recommended by federal guidelines, a system denounced by critics as a blacklist of lenient judges.
The new measure reverses reforms made a decade ago by Ashcroft's Democratic predecessor, Janet Reno, who gave prosecutors greater discretion over how cases should be handled.
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