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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Courts - "Sentencing Commission Votes to Allow Retroactive Easing of Crack Cocaine Sentences"
Mark Sherman of the AP reported earlier today in a story that begins:
The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to allow some 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences.The commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, decided to make retroactive its recent easing of recommended sentences for crack offenses.
Most of those eligible could receive no more than a two-year cut in their prison terms, but roughly 3,800 inmates could be released from prison within a year after the March 3 effective date of Tuesday's decision. Federal judges will have the final say whether to reduce sentences.
The commissioners said the delay until March would give judges and prison officials time to deal with public safety and other issues. * * *
Several commissioners said they expect judges will use their power to deny sentence reductions in some case. "I fully expect that a number of individuals who are a danger to the community will not in fact receive any reduction in sentence," said commission member Michael Horowitz, a former federal prosecutor.
Tuesday's vote follows two Supreme Court rulings Monday [see ILB entry] that upheld judges who rejected federal sentencing guidelines as too harsh and imposed more lenient prison terms, including one for crack offenses.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 12, 2007 05:30 PM
Posted to Courts in general