Feature: Pressure Mounts on Congress As Supreme Court, Sentencing Commission...
Both the US Supreme Court and the US Sentencing Commission acted this week to redress inequities in the sentencing of federal crack cocaine defendants, but changes in sentencing will be only marginal...
View ArticleSentencing: US Attorney General Raises Specter of Violent Crime Jump If Crack...
Twice in two days last week, US Attorney General Robert Mukasey lashed out at the US Sentencing Commission's December decision to apply cuts in federal crack sentences to prisoners currently behind...
View ArticleSentencing: Mukasey Tells Congress to Pass Bill Blocking Early Release for...
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey took his campaign against retroactive early releases for people sentenced under the federal crack cocaine laws to a new level Wednesday as he called on Congress to...
View ArticleCrack Sentencing Gets a Hearing on Capitol Hill While Advocates Mobilize
With the early release of some crack cocaine prisoners set to get underway next week and pressure mounting to do something about the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses,...
View ArticleEurope: Despite British Marijuana Reclassification, No Jail for Low-Level...
Last week, the British government announced it was returning marijuana to Class B drug status, signaling an end to the four-year experiment that saw the herb downgraded to a less serious Class C drug....
View ArticleFeature: US Sentencing Commission to Examine Alternatives to Incarceration
The US Sentencing Commission, the panel that sets sentencing guidelines for federal courts, has signaled that it intends to focus next year on developing alternatives to imprisonment, a move that is...
View ArticleFeature: Poll Finds Broad Support for Doing Away with Mandatory Minimum...
A poll released Wednesday by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) found broad support for eliminating mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent offenders and a majority who said they would vote...
View ArticleGiuliani Robocall Attacks Obama on Drug Sentencing
Voters in several swing states are receiving this recorded message from Rudy Giuliani:Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani, and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee because you need...
View ArticleCongress: Bill to Do Top-to-Bottom Review of Criminal Justice System, Drug...
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 on a unanimous voice vote Thursday. The bill would create a commission to...
View ArticleNew Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Crack Cocaine Now in Effect
New federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses went into effect Monday, a week after the US Sentencing Commission promulgated them. The commission acted on a temporary basis to implement...
View ArticleCut Drug War Spending (Action Alert)
Hi Friends,In a recent Q&A with YouTube viewers, President Obama said that U.S. drug policy focuses too heavily on law enforcement. He also took a huge step forward calling drug legalization an...
View ArticleFederal Crack Prisoners Will Get Sentence Cuts [FEATURE]
Thousands of inmates imprisoned on federal crack cocaine charges will be able to seek sentence reductions and early release after the US Sentencing Commission vote unanimously June 30 to make changes...
View ArticleFederal Judge Rejects Ecstasy Sentencing Guidelines
A US District Court judge in New York last Friday refused to sentence an Ecstasy defendant according to federal sentencing guidelines, saying they punish such offenses more harshly than scientifically...
View ArticleMassachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary Hearing
Visit http://www.malegislatureDate: Tue, 09/20/2011 - 1:00pm - 5:00pmLocation: 24 Beacon St., Room B-2Boston, MA02108United StatesSee map: Google Mapsread more
View ArticleDrug Policy Prospects on Capitol Hill This Year [FEATURE]
There are nearly two dozen pieces of drug policy-related legislation pending on Capitol Hill, but given a bitterly divided Congress intently focused on the economic crisis and bipartisan warfare in the...
View ArticleIowa Federal Judge Criticizes Harsh Methamphetamine Sentences
A Sioux City-based US district court judge has criticized harsh tough methamphetamine sentencing guidelines, writing in a recent opinion that he considers them "fundamentally flawed," not based on...
View ArticleObama Commutes Sentences of Clarence Aaron, Seven Other Crack Offenders...
The White House announced yesterday that President Obama had granted commutations to eight federal prisoners serving decades-long sentences for crack cocaine offenses, including poster boy for drug war...
View ArticleChronicle AM -- January 10, 2014
The marijuana issue continues hot and heavy, one of our favorite authors is nominated for an award, harm reduction bills move in Wisconsin, and the US Sentencing Commission wants to cut drug sentences....
View ArticleChronicle AM -- April 11, 2014
A DC marijuana legalization initiative is about to start signature-gathering, we have a trio of state pot polls, the US Sentencing Commission moves to cut drug sentences, German criminal law professors...
View ArticleUS Sentencing Commission Votes to Cut Drug Sentences [FEATURE]
The US Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted unanimously Thursday to reduce sentences for most federal drug trafficking defendants. The move comes as the federal prison population continues to increase,...
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