minimum sentence is a motion made by the prosecutor in exchange for the defendant s giving information about how his suppliers are, who his customers are, who else is working with him in the drug gang. professor, thank you. laura murphy, take my final 20 seconds. you get the final word go. ahead. well, 94% of the people in prison are there because of plea bargains. and most of the people who go to prison do so because they have inadequate counsel. so the attorney general addressed that too. but the attorney general made a great change in government policy. the war on drugs is a failure. it leads to huge racial disparities. it leads to expensive. thank you. overburdened prisons, and that is right move for the federal government. thank you, laura murphy and william otis for the dialogue. we appreciate it. thank you. up next, the case of convicted mob boss whitey bulger may be the worst example of fbi corruption in american history. this is hardball, the place for politics
we had about 20,000 people in the federal prison system for drug offenses. and now we have 500,000 people. and you can t tell me that the difference in the rate of drug use justifies such an extreme growth in our federal prison population. and putting people in prison destroys their lives. they can t vote. it s hard for them to find housing. it s hard for them to get college loans. it s just a terrible pox on our society. professor otis, do you believe that the congress should be taking this initiative given that it was congress that put on the books the mandatory minimums supposed to the justice department through the attorney general taking this path? it seems to me that present law is what we continue what we should be continuing to do. present law already provides for three methods for defendants to
incarceration is just extreme, as well as the financial cost. in 1984 in 1980, rather, we had about 20,000 people in the federal prison system for drug offenses. and now we have 500,000 people. and you can t tell me that the difference in the rate of drug use is justifies such an extreme growth in our federal prison population. and putting people in prison destroys their lives. they can t vote. it s hard for them to find housing. it s hard for them to get college loans. it s just a terrible pox on our society. professor otis, allow me to ask you, do you believe the congress should be taking this initiative, given it was congress that put on the books the mandatory minimums, as opposed to the justice department through the attorney general taking this path? it seems to me that prison
it would be a nice deterrent if you could get pinched for it, go to prison. good effort under way in terms of doj and the work they are doing. here is the point. why is the money going out the door at the very beginning when it s fraudulent? an outrageous scandal utt paid out. another question. why in 2013 are and i having this conversation when it has been going on decades? here is the reason. there has been waning revenues and things are slowing down, putting more and more pressure on folks to say look, we ve got to do things better, faster, and cheaper, and the only way to be fairly indulgent are over. we have to come in, say, look, you can use technology, not blue sky stuff. well proven. the comparison is overwhelming. worldwide credit card transactions, credit card fraud rate is 0.4%. compared to almost 8%, 9%, 10%
it would be a nice deterrent if you could get pinched for it, go to prison. good effort under way in terms of doj and the work they are doing. here is the point. why is the money going out the door at the very beginning when it s fraudulent? an outrageous scandal utt paid out. another question. why in 2013 are you and i having this conversation when it has been going on decades? here is the reason. there has been waning revenues and things are slowing down, putting more and more pressure on folks to say look, we ve got to do things better, faster, and cheaper, and the only way to be fairly indulgent are over. we have to come in, say, look, you can use technology, not blue sky stuff. well proven. the comparison is overwhelming. worldwide credit card transactions, credit card fraud rate is 0.4%. compared to almost 8%, 9%, 10%