The Crack Up of the Crack Down on Crack
Tue, 12/11/2007 - 9:17pm
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Things are changing in this area. Used to be one could get almost 100 times the sentence for this stuff than the powedered stuff. Many said this was unfair. Was someone listening? An article from yesterday explains whats going on. You can find it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/washington/11scotus.html. Makes interesting reading. “Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007. 
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Not only has the Supreme Court ruled, now look at this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/washington/11cnd-sentence.htm. The Court’s decision is going to be retroactively applied. To quote part of the article: “The United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to lighten punishments retroactively for crimes related to crack cocaine, a decision that could affect some 19,500 federal inmates.” Wow! Have you ever heard of such a thing? All this is going to be very interesting. "The decision, which was made over the objections of the Bush administration, takes effect on March 3, 2008."
“Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007.
It was a very interesting article. A couple of things come to mind. First, I agree that having mandatory federal sentencing guidelines is unconstitutional. The second thing is that due to the following statistics given in the article, it seems these "guidelines" are aimed directly at one particular socioeconomic group.
"A 1986 federal law, enacted at the height of public concern about crack, incorporated a 100 to one ratio into mandatory minimum sentences — that is, the same sentence was imposed for a given amount of crack and 100 times that amount of powder."
"A 2002 report noted that 85 percent of defendants convicted of crack offenses were black, a fact the commission warned was leading to a loss of confidence in the fairness of the system."
I hate drugs and every crime associated with them, but I also see the need for fair sentencing practices that don't lean toward getting the most poor drug offenders into prison while the people who can afford cocaine simply get probation.
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Well said Sippy, well said. Disparity in sentencing is exactly what the Sentencing Commission was supposed to address and relieve. Some say they made matters worse. Now, can you just imagine how much the courts are going to be swamped by the requests for sentencing/time adjustments from federal prisoners who have nothing but time on their hands -- 19,500 of them to be exact? My opinion is that the meth epidemic is what really brought this on. Meth is a dangerous thing, I have heard, and just as dangerous as crack, so it was either elevate meth sentences to crack levels, or moderate crack sentences. However, I might be wrong in my analysis.
“Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007.
As long as alcohol is freely sold, it is almost pointless to have all this other stuff illegal. I would venture to say alcohol has destroyed/ended more lives then all this other crap combined. just my opinion.
the hardest part of doing nothing, is knowing when your done.
Why is it, Spacemonkey, that society tolerates alcohol as it does? I don't have anything against private alcohol use, but I thought I would ask the question.
“Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007.
Money .
the hardest part of doing nothing, is knowing when your done.
Yep, but isn't there money in those other things -- maybe even moreso?
“Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007.
I guess it is not going to the "right people". Yet.
the hardest part of doing nothing, is knowing when your done.
Hmmmm...You make good points.
http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/121307_Drug_Dog_TEXT.jpg
“Fear not the soul of a poet, for it is yours to develop, to keep, and to use.” Words of OldWiseOne, 2007.
I wonder how much of that stuff will STILL make it to the streets?
the hardest part of doing nothing, is knowing when your done.