U.S Sentencing Commission to Adjust Guidelines for Crack Cocaine Convictions

An estimated 2,000 federal inmates will be eligible for release because of changes in the way sentences are calculated for crack cocaine convictions. A law was passed in 2010 that ending the practice of harsher sentences for crack compared to powdered cocaine after critics argued that African American defendants were receiving harsher sentences.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission announced in June it was making amended guidelines retroactive. That means inmates serving time for crack cocaine offenses may be eligible to have their time shortened and that there could be an influx of federal court filings by prisoners seeking to have their sentences reduced.

Congress asked the U.S Sentencing Commission to adjust guidelines to conform to changes made in the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.  That act changed the amount of crack cocaine needed to prompt mandatory minimum sentences. The change was made to reduce sentencing disparities between those sentenced in crack cocaine convictions and those sentenced in cases involving powdered cocaine.