WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions' directive to pursue the most serious charges and longest sentences possible against most suspects is likely to thwart recent efforts to address what some attorneys say were heavy-handed practices by some prosecutors at the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City, Kansas.

While Sessions' directive impacts federal prosecutions nationwide, it has raised particular concerns from a former Kansas top law enforcement official and comes amid an endeavor involving the courts, the defense bar and prosecutors to address alleged prosecutorial abuses.

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