AG Jeff Sessions our "crime problem" while expression concern about the "move to even lighter sentences"

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions today delivered this speech to the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, and the speech includes comments about rising crime and support for law enforcement that have become staples of the AG's recent speeches.  But this latest speech also indirectly addresses the latest bipartisan talk of federal sentencing reform and covers some other new ground.  Here are excertps:

But today we are fighting a multi-front battle: an increase in violent crime, a rise in vicious gangs, an opioid epidemic, threats from terrorism, combined with a culture in which family and discipline seem to be eroding further and a disturbing disrespect for the rule of law.

After decreasing for nearly 20 years because of the hard but necessary work our country started in the 1980s, violent crime is back with a vengeance.  In 2016, the nationwide homicide rate increased by another 7.9 percent, resulting in a total surge of more than 20 percent since 2014. Not a little matter.

As homicide deaths have gone up, drug overdose deaths have gone up even faster.  Preliminary data show that more than 60,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016. Not only is that the highest drug-related death toll in our history, but it is also the fastest increase in drug deaths we’ve ever seen.  That’s more than the population of Midwest City — dead in just one year.  For Americans under the age of 50, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death.

Oklahoma isn’t immune to these problems.  This wonderful state suffered a 40 percent increase in murders between 2014 and 2016, and the number of drug overdose deaths has surged by more than 67 percent in the last decade.

And yet, despite the national surge in violent crime and the record number of drug deaths over the last two years, there is a move to even lighter sentences. We must be careful here. Federal prison population is down 15 percent — the average sentence is down 19 percent. Crime is up.

Sometimes it is prudent to review sentences and determine if some might be too harsh or too light.  For example, I led the effort with my then-colleague Senator Durbin to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100 to 1 all the way down to 18 to 1.  That was the right thing to do.

But I'm afraid we don’t have a sentencing problem; we have a crime problem.  If we want to bring down our prison population then we should bring down crime.

So what should we do?  What has been proven to work?

In 1984 I had been a federal prosecutor for six years when Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act.  This law instituted mandatory minimum sentences, sentencing guidelines, truth in sentencing, and ended federal parole.  I was a prosecutor before this law, and I was a prosecutor after it went into effect.  It’s clear to me that it worked. We saw crime rates cut in half, neighborhoods revitalized, and general law and order restored on our streets.

Why did it work?  Most people obey the law.  They have no desire to inflict violence on their neighbors or traffick deadly drugs to suffering addicts.  They want to be safe. No, most crimes are committed by a relatively few number of criminals.  Putting them behind bars makes us safer.

Experienced law enforcement officers like you understand that.  You are the thin blue line that stands between law-abiding people and criminals.  You protect our families, our communities, and our country from drugs and violence.  Every American benefits from that work, and the vast majority of our country appreciates what you do.

But some would undermine this support by portraying law enforcement officers as the enemy.  But we’ve seen a shocking and unacceptable level of violence toward police officers in this country.

Earlier this week, the FBI released its annual report on violence against police officers.  The report showed a more than 60 percent increase last year in the number of officers feloniously killed in the line of duty.  It also shows a 14 percent increase in the number of officers assaulted on duty. According to the report, 150 officers were assaulted every day on average last year....

You deserve the support and respect of every American, and I’m here today on behalf of President Trump and the Department of Justice to say thank you.  I am proud to stand with you. The Department of Justice is proud to stand with you.  We have your back.  We understand one thing, criminals are the problem, law officers are the solution....

Helping law enforcement do their jobs, helping the police get better, and celebrating the noble, honorable, essential and challenging work of our law enforcement communities will always be a top priority of President Trump and this Department of Justice.  We will always seek to affirm the critical and historic role of sheriffs in our society and we will not participate in anything that would give the slightest comfort to radicals who promote agendas that preach hostility rather than respect for police.