From today’s New York Times article “Rules Lower Prison Terms in Sentences for Crack”:
Crack cocaine offenders will receive shorter prison sentences under more lenient federal sentencing guidelines that went into effect yesterday.
The United States Sentencing Commission, a government panel that recommends appropriate federal prison terms, estimated that the new guidelines would
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The Sentencing Project updates last week’s Sentencing Commission hearings on reforming the harsh penalties created by the disparity in Federal law for crack vs. powder cocaine. Although United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta testified that the differences were reasonable…
A number of Commissioners also expressed concern that the current crack cocaine law was ineffective in targeting
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Eric Sterling, former Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary from 1979 through 1989, was a principal aide in developing the Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988. Since then, he has been president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. From his opinion piece (Take Another Crack at That Cocaine Law)…
Sentencing Law and Policy links to the submitted testimony of several witnesses at next week’s congressional hearing on the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing. Berman also points us to the statement of Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States, who…