Pre-gaming the State of the Union with a few White House Fact Sheets talking a bit about crimes and punishment

I may not get a chance to watch Prez Biden's State of the Union address tonight, and I am not really expecting it will cover any big sentencing issues (or small sentencing issues for that matter).  That said, I do expect some crime and punishment matters to get some air time during a speech that likely will make some mention of policing practices and the nation's drug overdose problems.  And my expectations have already been somewhat confirmed even hours before the SotU speech via these releases from the White House:

FACT SHEET: The Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Work to Make Our Communities Safer and Advance Effective, Accountable Policing

FACT SHEET: In State of the Union, President Biden to Outline Vision to Advance Progress on Unity Agenda in Year Ahead

Here are some items pulled from these "fact sheets" — which, I must say, do not actually read as "fact sheets — that may be of particular interest to sentencing fans:

Investing in Crime Prevention. The President’s Safer America Plan calls on Congress to invest $15 billion in services that help prevent crime from occurring in the first place, including: mental health and substance use disorder services, such as co-responder and alternative responder programs where social workers and other professionals respond to calls that should not be the responsibility of law enforcement; job training and employment opportunities, including for teenagers and young adults; housing and other supportive social services to individuals who are homeless; and reentry services so people leaving prison can stabilize their lives and avoid recidivism.  The Plan also incentivizes the reform of laws that increase incarceration without reducing public safety and lift almost all federal restrictions on eligibility for vital benefits (such as food, income, and disability-based assistance) for people with prior convictions....

Addressing a failed approach to marijuana and crack cocaine. The criminalization of marijuana possession has upended too many lives — for conduct that is now legal in many states. While white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are disproportionately in jail for it. In October 2022, the President announced a full, unconditional, and categorical pardon for prior federal simple marijuana possession offenses.  This pardon lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people with prior convictions under federal and D.C. law for simple marijuana possession.  The President also called on every state governor to follow his lead, as most marijuana prosecutions take place at the state level.  And because this Administration is guided by science and evidence, he called on the Secretary of HHS and the Attorney General to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

In addition, the Safer America Plan calls on Congress to end once and for all the racially discriminatory sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses — as President Biden first advocated in 2007 — and make that change fully retroactive.  This step would provide immediate sentencing relief to the 10,000 individuals, more than 90 percent of whom are Black, currently serving time in federal prison pursuant to the crack/powder disparity.  As an initial step, the Attorney General has issued guidance to federal prosecutors on steps they should take to promote the equivalent treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses, but Congress still needs to act....

Beating the Opioid and Overdose Epidemic by Accelerating the Crackdown on Fentanyl Trafficking and Public Health Efforts to Save Lives
Last year, President Biden announced his plan to beat the opioid epidemic as part of his Unity Agenda, because opioid use and trafficking affect families in red communities and blue communities and every community in between.  Under President Biden’s leadership, overdose deaths and poisonings have decreased for five months in a row — but these deaths remain unacceptably high and are primarily caused by fentanyl....  [T]he President will announce in the State of Union that his administration will:...

• Work with Congress to make permanent tough penalties on suppliers of fentanyl.  The federal government regulates illicitly produced fentanyl analogues and related substances as Schedule I drugs, meaning they are subject to strict regulations and criminal penalties.  But traffickers have found a loophole: they can easily alter the chemical structure of fentanyl — creating “fentanyl related substances” (FRS) — to evade regulation and enhance the drug’s impact.  The DEA and Congress temporarily closed this loophole by making all FRS Schedule I.  The Administration looks forward to working with Congress on its comprehensive proposal to permanently schedule all illicitly produced FRS into Schedule I.  Traffickers of these deadly substances must face the penalties they deserve, no matter how they adjust their drugs.