Expenditure of our federal resources in incarceration and the i think the average on mandatory minimums is about 11year incarceration and so without going too far, are you suggesting that those resources could be applied in other ways to make us safer . Absolutely. As ive looked at the spending of the department of justice and seeing that the bureau of prisons each and every year takes up a larger and larger percentage of the department of justice budget, that money has to come from somewhere and where its been coming from is money for agents and prosecutors and also critically importantly money for state and Law Enforcement assistance for the cop on the street. Those are the things that i believe keep our country safe. Now, let me say there are some defendants who need those long sentences. There are some who need to be this prison for a very long time. Because they are dangerous and our Society Needs to be protected from them but i think we need to use those lengthy sentences in a sm
Resources that would go to prosecutors, and federal agents to be able to investigate and prosecute crimes, are being diverted to the bureau of prisons. The bureau of prisons now takes up almost twothirds of the departments budget. Thats really untenable and unsustainable. So i believe that mandatory minimum sentences are an important tool. But we but that we need to use that tool effectively. Senator blumenthal . Thanks, mr. Chairman. At the outset id like to ask permission to include in the record a statement from senator patrick leahy, our colleague from vermont, in support of ms. Yates nomination. Without objection. And id also like to include a number of letters, i referred to them earlier, from colleagues, Law Enforcement officials, officials in georgia, in support of that nomination. Without objection those are included. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me just ask you about olc opinions, ms. Yates. Its been a tradition common to, i think, most recent administrations that olc opinion