Prior to the FSA, a person convicted of an offense involving possession of crack cocaine would get the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times that amount of powder cocaine.īut, according to federal drug use surveys, 27 percent of crack cocaine users were African American and 65 percent were white. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA), which reduced the differences in federal sentencing for crack cocaine compared to those for powder cocaine offenses. However, further reforms are required to bring the United States into full compliance with its international human rights obligations. The guidelines reduce sentences for crack cocaine possession. These include the right to benefit from sentence reductions made after commission of a crime as well as the right to be free of racial discrimination. © 2010 Reuters (Washington, DC) - The US Sentencing Commission's unanimous vote on June 30, 2011, to make new federal crack cocaine sentencing guidelines retroactive, is consistent with internationally recognized human rights principles, Human Rights Watch said today. President Obama signs the Fair Sentencing Act on August 3, 2010.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |