The Justice Department has announced a change to the way some drug offenders will be charged.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. said that nonviolent drug offenders will no longer be charged with offenses that yield harsh mandatory sentences.  He announced the new policy in San Francisco, and according to the Washington Post, he also introduced a policy that would loosen sentences for elderly and nonviolent inmates. He also said there would be policies to provide alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals.

In excerpts of his speech provided to the Washington Post, Holder said, "We must face the reality that, as it stands, our system is, in too many ways, broken. And with an outsized, unnecessarily large prison population, we need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, to deter and to rehabilitate -- not merely to warehouse and to forget."

"A vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities," he added.

The reforms spearheaded by the Justice Department are meant to combat a legal system that the Obama administration contends incarcerates too many nonviolent offenders, often preventing them from becoming contributing members of society later in life becuase of relatively minor offenses.

In an article for The Guardian, Ana Marie Cox applauded Holder's plans, saying that the news is the "most recent improvement on policies that have a direct effect on the black community -- though the cost of unjust mandatory minimum sentences is also a real one to all Americans, to the tune of billions of dollars a year."

Holder has been outspoken on a variety of issues. Following the George Zimmeman "not guilty" verdict in July, Holder criticized the state of Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' laws in a public speech.