A preview of (big?) sentencing news coming soon from AG Eric Holder

I am intrigued to see this notable new CNN report headlined "Justice plans sentencing changes for non-violent criminals."  The report appears to provide a preview, of sorts, of a big speech discussing sentencing issues that Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to be making on Monday.  Here are some of the details:

The Justice Department is preparing an overhaul of how federal prosecutors deal with non-violent criminal offenders in a move that could mark the end of the tough-on-crime era, which began with strict anti-drug laws in the 1970s and accelerated with mandatory minimum prison sentences and so-called three-strikes laws.

The idea is to change the type of sentences that prosecutors seek in cases where instead of prison, offenders could benefit from alternatives such as drug court, a Justice Department official said.

While more flexible approaches to crime have long held support among liberal Democrats, fear of being tarred as weak on crime by Republican opponents has long caused moderate Democrats, particularly those running for president, to avoid the issue.

In recent years, however, some conservatives have begun pushing for some changes, using some of a few of the same buzzwords -- prison-industrial complex, for one -- to describe the inflexibility of the current criminal justice system. That's in part because reducing the prison population also could be a way to reduce budgets and reduce the size of government. More than a third of the Justice Department's annual budget is spent on prisons and detention.

Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the initiative at a speech in San Francisco on Monday. Obama administration officials say the changes they are pursuing will not require congressional approval, although some lawmakers are pushing proposals to take similar steps....

The administration plans to highlight how states such as Texas and Georgia, led by Republicans, are using alternatives to prison to address the issue. By leading the effort, Holder, who has been the focus of criticism for conservatives during his more than four years in office, could find himself on the same side as many of his fiercest Republican critics.

Critics say the current criminal justice system has become bloated with many offenders locked up for non-violent drug offenses or technical probation violations such as not checking in with probation officers, not for committing new crimes.

Holder in an April speech noted the huge economic burden that incarceration carries for federal, state and local budgets: $83 billion in 2009 alone.... Holder, in his April speech to the National Action Network founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, highlighted many of the problems conservatives also cite in the criminal justice system. He noted that many prisoners aren't rehabilitated in prison and reoffend within years of serving their sentences.