Inmates Can Seek Early Release in Crack Cases

Black, Vick decisions illustrate turn from sentencing guidelines

(NEWSER) - More federal judges are giving themselves wiggle room when it comes to once-strict sentencing guidelines, as evidenced by three recent high-profile court cases. The three—involving Conrad Black, Michael Vick, and a crack cocaine case that made it to the Supreme Court—illustrate how a spate of high-court rulings have given judges more leeway, the Chicago Tribune reports. More»

Court sides with judicial discretion

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court ruled today that federal judges can use discretion to order shorter prison sentences in crack cocaine crimes, to lessen a disparity with sentencing for powdered cocaine. It was a win for civil rights advocates, who have long argued that sentencing guidelines call for longer terms in crimes involving crack because defendants are overwhelmingly from urban and minority communities, CNN reports. More»

Proposal would correct vast crack/cocaine sentencing gap

(NEWSER) - Eric Holder today told the US Sentencing Commission that he supports a proposal to release thousands of federal prisoners convicted on crack-related offenses. Until Congress changed them last year, federal sentencing guidelines gave crack users—who are predominantly poor and black—much harsher sentences than powder cocaine users. Now, Holder wants that change applied to current prisoners, the LA Times reports. More»

Felony amount now only 18 times higher for powder cocaine

(NEWSER) - Congress quietly eased up the federal sentencing guideline on crack cocaine yesterday, addressing one of the more glaring disparities of the drug war. In what critics have called a racist double-standard, possessing a mere 5 grams of crack is considered a felony, compared to 500 grams for powdered cocaine. The bill the House approved yesterday reduces that 100-to-1 disparity to 18-to-1, the Huffington Post reports, upping the crack threshold to 28 grams. More»

(AP) - The Supreme Court says accidentally shooting a gun during the commission of a crime should bring the same penalties as intentionally using a firearm. The high court today upheld the conviction and sentence of Christopher Michael Dean, who was arrested for trying to rob a bank in Georgia in 2004. A gun went off accidentally during the attempted robbery when Dean tried to switch the weapon from one hand to the other. More»