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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee told a House committee Thursday that her proposal to slash prison time for older, nonviolent federal inmates was not intended to benefit child pornographers or white-collar criminals.

"This is not a bill to give comfort to the Jack Abramoffs of the world," the Houston Democrat said Thursday at a hearing before a House Judiciary subcommittee. Abramoff, a former Washington lobbyist, pleaded guilty in January of 2006 to charges of conspiring to bribe members of Congress.

Jackson Lee criticized the Houston Chronicle for its "interpretation" of her bill in an article on Thursday.

The Chronicle reported that the measure, as originally written, could result in the early release of white-collar felons such as Abramoff, Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt and former Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Andrew Fastow.

"This is not an effort to focus on certain heinous crimes," Jackson Lee said. "It is an effort to address the question of recidivism, bring crime down and make our communities safer."

Notice, of course, that she doesn't deny that the reduction of the sentences in question will happen under her legislation. She simply doesn't "intend" for these perpetrators of "heinous" crimes to benefit.

She neglects to consider, however, that every crime is "heinous" to the victims of that crime.

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Spin Sheila!

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Posted by: Greg at 11:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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