Supreme Court: Shorter Sentences for Crack Cocaine...

[varisoxfan]

who cares which one is worse, they are both illegal drugs and people who are caught with them or selling them should be prosecuted to the full extent of thelaw. Letting a bunch of people who have been convicted of selling it, sounds great, you dont think at least 1 will commit a murder or a crime because they gotout early because of this? Sorry but this is a bad idea on so many levels.

 

[okiedoqui]

Originally Posted by bbanks707

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/14/crack.sentences/

Lower crack terms could free 20,000 early

Now that just sounds wonderful

The unfair sentencing and convictions of people who sold small amounts of crack cocaine and going away for 20 years is ridiculous. I'm not saying thesepeople were not wrong but putting people away to meet the prison industry quotas is wrong.

 

[an dee 51o]

I go to school in an area with a lot of tweakers, and they're pretty scary individuals. Walking around like zombies and it seems like they're prettymuch loose cannons.

 

[777]

Time to hustle.......

 

[thecoldest343]

people who are caught with them or selling them should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law
See thats where they made a mistake because they didn't prosecute to the fullest extent when they should have no matter what type,form or whatamount of drug it was.Its not about it being a bad idea or a good idea,that doesn't matter its about being fair on this thing we call "a war ondrugs".

Im just sick of seeing certain people get slap on the hand and let go,but on the flipside when they find him or her dead in some friends basement sometimesthats more of a wakeup call-"houston we have a problem".

 

[seasoned vet]

- well, the votes are in.....

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. Advocates argue that crack-cocaine offenders are unfairly targeted under sentencing guidelines.
The commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, decided to make retroactive its recent easing of recommended sentences for crack offenses.

Roughly 3,800 inmates could be eligible for release 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 would give judges and prison officials time to deal with public safety and other issues.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions of Vermont, a commission member, said the vote on retroactivity will have the "most dramatic impact on African-American families." A failure to act "may be taken by some as particularly unjust," Sessions said before the vote.

The seven-member commission took note of objections raised by the Bush administration, but said there is no basis to treat convicts sentenced before the guideline change differently from those sentenced after the change.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/11/cocaine.sentencing.ap/index.html

- i got a homeboy been blowing up my phone all week about this, i bet them cats are jumping for joy in there now, i know i would be.

 

[skip2mylou23]

What about weed? They should reduce the punishment for weed considerably.

 

[ravagebx]

i don't really see it as a good or bad thing, I think it's fair considering the facts.

 

[starbucks gtd]

Time to start sellin

 

[dirtylicious]

Sorry but this is a bad idea on so many levels.
I'm all for making criminals responsible for their actions...but I'm for this..

The disparity between crack vs cocaine sentencing was/is ridiculous. All b/c some politician decided on an arbitrary 100:1 ratio

Even PROBATION officers were in support of this:
http://www.ussc.gov/crack/APPNDXB.HTM

4. Probation Officers' Advisory Group

The Probation Officers' Advisory Group reported that the majority of probation officers expressed opposition to the 100-to-1 quantity ratio. In general, they felt the ratio was unwarranted, arbitrary, and "too high." Probation officers were troubled that crack cocaine abusers, dealing to maintain their habit, receive equal if not greater penalties than the more sophisticated, powerful, and monetarily successful powder cocaine dealers. Many probation officers questioned the rationale behind these penalties.

The Commission was told that a DEA chemist advised one probation officer to use a .894 conversion figure to convert powder cocaine to crack cocaine. This conversion figure is the proportion of molecular weight of crack cocaine to that of powder cocaine (303/339). See U.S. v. Paz, 927 F.2d 176 (4th Cir. 1991). The court upheld use of this figure. One probation officer noted that under current drug laws, a defendant who sells 100 grams of pure powder cocaine will receive a lesser sentence than a defendant who sells 89.4 grams of crack cocaine, despite the fact that 100 grams of pure powder cocaine could easily be converted to 89.4 grams of crack cocaine.

Most probation officers suggested that the ratio be substantially reduced (perhaps ten-to-one) or eliminated altogether. However, due to its easy marketability, convenient route of administration, simple manufacture, low cost, powerful addictiveness, and social destructiveness, some probation officers consider crack cocaine a much more dangerous drug than powder cocaine. The probation officers who supported the 100-to-1 quantity ratio believed that the availability of crack cocaine bred violence and dependency. They argued that, through deterrence and incapacitation, the ratio reflected the amount of social and physical harm caused by the drug.

The Commission received a separate response from a deputy chief U.S. probation officer, responding on his own behalf, who said that the "ratio of 100-to-1 is the most unfair sentencing issue of which [he is] aware." He cites the lack of scientific evidence to conclude that crack cocaine is 100 times more potent or dangerous than powder cocaine. And he believes the ratio "more severely punishes the street level addicted dealer than the conspiratorial businessman who is higher on the chain of distribution." This is so, he says, because "the larger conspiratorial offenders tend to deal in large quantities of powder cocaine" that is later distributed to the street-level dealers and converted into crack cocaine. This probation officer allows that crack cocaine may be more addictive than powder cocaine and is probably more available due to its lesser cost.

 

[cire215]

lighten the punishment for weed and then i'll be happy.

 

[mplsdunk]

2 zips or more of weed is a felony right?

 

[cire215]

depends on your state. the punishments vary.