US judges scrutinised over lenient sentencing By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 08 August 2003 The United States Attorney General, John Ashcroft, has ordered prosecuting officials across America to collate and gather information on federal judges who impose sentences that are lighter than guidelines recommend. In what has been interpreted as an attack on judicial independence, Mr Ashcroft has told US attorneys to be aggressive in gathering such information. "The purpose of this is to make sure that all our US attorneys understand that we intend to apply US law evenly across all jurisdictions," said Mark Carallo, a department spokesman. Mr...