Nov 12,2007
Some drug offenders may be released early
by UPI
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering an unprecedented early release for 19,500 federal inmates, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
The plan, which would cut an average of at least two years from each sentence, addresses what is seen as an unfair disparity in federal cocaine laws that imposed harsher punishment on crack cocaine users and dealers than in powder cocaine cases, the Times reported. Nearly 80 percent of those sentenced annually on federal crack cocaine charges are African-American.
The U.S. Justice Department warns the plan would increase crime as thousands of serious drug offenders are released across the country, the Times reported.
However, the harsher treatment of crack offenders is "fundamentally unjust," said Reggie B. Walton, a federal judge in Washington, noting the commission several years ago retroactively reduced sentences for LSD offenders, who were mainly white, the Times reported.
Copyright © 2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
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 (total 10 votes)
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- I am 44 years old, Mother of 4. I had always wanted to go into criminal justice...I have been told that the prisons & correctional centers are FULL....I do know for a fact DRUGS is as thick in these centers as they are on the streets....we need to do something about this major problem...My son is going to be a police officer in a couple of years...I wish him all the luck in the world....
(Posted on June 12, 2008, 4:36 pm Connie Parton)
- I disagree. Drugs are illegal in the united states and if you abuse them you should go to jail.
(Posted on November 12, 2007, 1:19 pm David Rothschild)
- As they should be. Let's make room for rapist, childmolesters and other hardcore criminals. I think drug offenders should NEVER be sentanced to jail time if there is no victim other than him or herself.
(Posted on November 12, 2007, 10:34 am ALopez)
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