November 2011
Crack Cocaine Sentencing Reforms Go Into Effect [COLORLINES] →
colorlines.com
Today, more than 12,000 people — 85 percent of whom are black — serving time in prison for crack cocaine offenses will have the opportunity to have their sentences reviewed by a federal judge and possibly reduced.
The sentencing changes are part of the The Fair Sentencing Act that Congress passed in August of last year. The reform bill reduced the 100-to-1 disparity between minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine to 18 to 1. On Tuesday, those already serving time became eligible for a hearing to consider reducing their sentences under the new changes.
