Attorney General Eric Holder is expected Monday to announce a change in criminal justice policy that seeks to ease stiff federal drug sentences, among other things. Samuel BuellProfessor of law, Duke University Law Schoolbuell@law.duke.eduhttp://www.law.duke.edu/fac/siegel Buell's research and teaching focus on criminal law and the regulatory state. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a federal prosecutor in New York, Boston, Washington and Houston. He twice received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service, the Department of Justice's highest honor, and was a lead prosecutor for the Department's Enron Task Force. Quote: "This is a welcome move to bring not only flexibility but, ironically, more consistency to federal drug sentences. The truth is that prosecutors in several big city U.S. Attorneys' offices who well understand the difference between serious drug cases and small ones have for years been using this legal tactic for avoiding mandatory minimums in their plea agreements, more or less under the radar." _ _ _ _ Duke experts on a variety of other topics can be found at http://newsoffice.duke.edu/resources-media/faculty-experts.