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October 14, 2007
USSC schedules public hearing on crack amendment retroactivity
As noted on the US Sentencing Commission's website, the "Commission has scheduled a public hearing for November 13, 2007 at Georgetown University Law Center ... regarding whether Amendment 9 pertaining to offenses involving cocaine base ("crack") and Amendment 12 pertaining to certain criminal history rules ... should be applied retroactively to previously sentenced defendants." This official notice provides a bit more background and details on the hearing.
This should be a very interesting hearing, in part because it deals with a very important issue: as this recent USSC analysis details, the Commission's research "estimates that 19,500 offender sentenced between October 1, 1991 and June 30, 2007 ... would be eligible to seek a reduce sentence if the Commission were to make the 2007 crack cocaine amendment retroactive."
Some recent related posts on crack sentencing:
- USSC analysis on potential crack amendment retroactivity impact
- Crack wackiness brewing over impact of crack amendments
- Latest FSR issue covers crack sentencing
- Obama talking about serious sentencing reform
October 14, 2007 at 08:03 PM | Permalink
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Comments
I am a litigation secretary in New Jersye and my ex husband is serving a 19 year sentence for crack. He received a higher sentence then a murderer. I really feel there was an injustice here, he has served 11 years and has 4 more years to go, he will then get deported to Santo Domingo. This amendment should be done as soon as possible. Some of the inmates feel their sentences were to harsh and they would like to see this amendment take place and not only talked about.
Posted by: Beatrice Martinez | Nov 6, 2007 8:42:16 PM
Of course many of the sentences given were too harsh and should be amended. Many of these men are doing more time than murderers and rapist. Why house an inmate that could possibly be more productive in society?
Posted by: Denise | Nov 18, 2007 10:57:05 PM
