New Sentencing Guidelines Ease Punishment for Crack Offenders

By Daniel Hawn

Published on March 12, 2008

The new sentencing guidelines were created last year by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Sentencing guidelines are used by judges to determine appropriate punishments for individuals convicted of crimes. The Commission's new guidelines address a long-standing disparity in prison sentences handed down for cocaine and those given for crack, a chemically similar substance. Drug laws established in the 1980s created a 100-1 ratio that made the punishment for selling 5 grams of crack equivalent to that of selling of 500 grams of cocaine. Critics of such laws say they result in harsher sentences for minorities in urban areas, where crack is more prevalent.

In an interview last week, U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo, who also serves as a vice chair of the Sentencing Commission, defended the agency's decision to revise the guidelines. He said that while crack may be a more dangerous drug than cocaine, this does not justify the current penalty system, which he says disproportionately affects racial minorities.

In updating the guidelines, the Sentencing Commission made the changes retroactive, meaning that those currently imprisoned for crack offenses can petition to have their sentences reduced.

According to a Washington Post article last week, the Federal Bureau of Prisons processed about 400 applications modifying prison terms in the first two days after the guidelines went into effect.

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