U.S. Sentencing Commission Makes New Crack Sentencing Guidelines Retroactive

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http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=06&year=2011&base_name=us_sentencing_commission_makes

U.S. Sentencing Commission Makes New Crack Sentencing Guidelines Retroactive

Adam Serwer | Jun 30, 2011 | Adam Serwer's Blog


In a bit of good news on the Drug War front, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has voted to make the Senate's recently amended crack sentencing guidelines retroactive, meaning that around 12,000 offenders will be eligible to seek a reduction in their sentences. That's despite the administration's preemptive retreat on the issue, which begged the commission to exclude "those who have possessed or used weapons in committing their crimes and those who have significant criminal histories." Republican Congressman Lamar Smith meanwhile, accused the administration of being "more concerned with the well-being of criminals than with the safety of our communities."

Crack panic aside however, all retroactivity means is that 12,000 rather than 5,500 will be eligible to petition for a lighter sentence. They'll have to face a federal sentencing judge, who will make a decision "only after consideration of many factors, including the Commission’s instruction to consider whether reducing an offender’s sentence would pose a risk to public safety.“ So the Sentencing Commission isn't exactly pushing open the prison gates here. Even if every single prisoner eligible for a reduction was released, it would amount to less than a fraction of a percent of the more than two million Americans in prison or jail.

And the crack powder disparity remains. It's smaller, but it's still there.