I am sure that everybody has already heard of the federal decision to reduce the sentances of many crack offenders. The best thing about this article, however, is a most excellent quote from Shannon at the end of it!!



RUSH TO FREE CRACK INMATES NOT EXPECTED DESPITE RULING ON SENTENCE DISPARITIES

Dallas Morning News-

The decision by federal officials to allow thousands of inmates to seek sentence reductions for their crack cocaine offenses is expected to have little immediate impact in Texas.

"There will not be people pouring out of the prisons," said Jason Hawkins, assistant federal public defender for the Northern District of Texas.

Nationwide about 3,800 federal inmates will be eligible for release within the year � fewer than 400 of them from Texas.

State prison inmates are not affected by the ruling this week from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency that develops federal sentencing policy, and the number of federal inmates in Texas eligible to seek sentence reductions in the next 30 years totals only 1,677.

An additional few thousand people released from prison nationwide "is a drop in the bucket" to the almost 800,000 people from state and federal prisons already under supervision, said Kara Gotsch, director of advocacy for The Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C.-based organization that has pushed for sentencing reform for years. "Frankly the change is quite modest."

.......

Even if an inmate is eligible for sentence reduction, the final decision is up to a federal judge; mandatory minimum sentences remain in effect.

.......

The harsh crack sentences were put into effect in the 1980s when crack first appeared on the drug scene and was thought to be more dangerous than the powdered form. That initial belief was "not borne out," Mr. Hawkins said, and laws that punished people with five grams of crack as severely as 500 grams of powdered cocaine seemed unfair.

.......

Mr. Roper said he understands the concern about disparities in sentencing, "but I think the answer to that is prosecutors being careful about exercising that discretion, as opposed to across-the-board change."

.......

The Supreme Court decision, however, will not affect state courts, said Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.

Texas laws never differentiated between crack and powdered cocaine, he said, and unlike most states, sentencing in Texas is generally handled by a jury rather than a judge.

"Texas has always chosen justice on an individual case-by-case basis over the type of justice that holds that everybody should be treated equally, even if they are treated equally badly," he said.

"Both systems have their injustices," Mr. Edmonds said. "You just pick your poison."

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-crack_13met.ART0.East.Edition1.36a7d51.html#

I have my moments.