Progress on sentencing reform reveals waning police influence

[Yahoo! News]

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By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shortly after legislation surfaced in the U.S. Senate to lower prison sentences for non-violent drug offenders, Fraternal Order of Police Executive Director Jim Pasco heard Vice President Joe Biden say what Pasco had suspected of the legislation all along. Law enforcement will never see any money from the sentencing reform bill, despite what promises may have been made by the bill's proponents, Pasco said Biden conveyed to him in a closed-door meeting. The candid conversation between Pasco, who represents the largest U.S. police union, and Biden, author of a 1994 crime bill that guaranteed billions of dollars for cops, highlights the waning influence of the law enforcement lobby in the debate over whether to reform the criminal justice system.

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