Social Justice
12,000 Inmates To Be Released Early Due To New Crack Sentencing
A law passed by President Obama last year will free nearly 12,000 inmates from across the nation that were sentenced long prison terms due to crack possession.
A law passed by President Obama last year will free nearly 12,000 inmates from across the nation that were sentenced long prison terms due to crack possession.
12,000 inmates freed
The lengthy prison sentences, which were criticized by many Black politicians, Civil Rights activists, and organizations, were struck down last year in the Fair Sentencing Act which reduced the inequality in sentences for both past convicts and future ones.
The disparity in sentences for crack versus powder cocaine had long been criticized as racially discriminatory because it disproportionately affected black defendants. Under a law passed in the 1980s, a person convicted of crack possession got the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the amount of powdered cocaine. Five grams of crack, about the weight of five packets of Sweet N’Low, brought a mandatory five years behind bars; it took 500 grams of powdered cocaine to get the same sentence.