Charging Leniency and Federal Sentences

Stephanie Holmes Didwania

The Journal of Legal Studies, 2026, vol. 55, issue 2, 317 - 364

Abstract: For decades, advocates and observers have lambasted mandatory minimum sentencing laws, especially for drug crimes. In 2013, US Attorney General Eric Holder instructed all federal prosecutors to stop charging mandatory minimums against defendants charged with low-level, nonviolent drug trafficking crimes who had minimal prior criminal records. This paper finds that federal prosecutors complied considerably with the charging policy, but this compliance did not translate into meaningful sentencing reductions for the defendants the policy sought to help. The paper suggests that these results are explained by the Holder reform’s failure to account for entrenchment of mandatory minimums in federal criminal law, policy, and practice.

Date: 2026
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