We've had Attorney General Ashcroft's new sentencing guidelines for prosecutors for over a week, and were wondering when they'd become news. The answer is now. Here's Ashcroft, issuing new rules to his his prosecutors directing them to report departures in sentencing decisions, and to oppose them in many instances. The title of the article is misleading in our opinion--Ashcroft isn't seeking uniformity, he's seeking control.

We would have put up a fuss in court last Friday if, based on Ashcroft's new directive, the prosecutor had opposed our motion for departure on grounds that our client's criminal history category over-represented the seriousness of his past misconduct. To the prosecutor's credit, he agreed with us and Probation that the departure was warranted. So did the Judge and our client got the reduction from Category II to Category I, saving him 6 months on the sentence.

Nonetheless, we have serious concerns that Ascroft's directives will further erode the independence of the Judiciary. Also, if prosecutors are directed to oppose reductions, how credible will they be on sentencing issues? After all, they have no choice now but to oppose departures in many instances.

Here's more from the Associated Press, which says more appeals of sentencing decisions likely will result from this directive.

Ryan King, research associate at The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group favoring alternatives to incarceration, said the effect of the amendment and Ashcroft memo is to further concentrate power in the hands of prosecutors in the criminal justice system.

"It's telling judges from the get-go, 'if you want to depart ... that you will be put on a list and you will be watched,'" King said. "We're no longer judging a case on the merits."