Word: commissioners
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Yes, I've always been interested in politics, and I had very early exposure to the stakes involved at the Presidential level when I was sent by the Securities and Exchange Commission to assist in an aspect of the Watergate prosecution. So I've been sort of engaged in things...
The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which was created in 1984 to help ensure that people convicted of similar crimes end up with similar prison terms, has finally shortened its recommended penalties for crack cocaine. Crack offenders have traditionally been treated more severely than those caught with powdered cocaine, a disparity that...
Two decades ago, this 100:1 drug-quantity ratio appealed to legislators who believed crack was instantly addictive and caused violent behavior. And the sentencing commission worked these dramatically different drug thresholds into its otherwise nuanced sentencing guidelines, which add jail time for aggravating factors like the presence of a...
Since then, science has shown there is little difference between the two cocaine variants, but that didn't change the way the law treated them. Congress blocked the Commission's first attempt, in 1995, to reduce the sentencing disparity and so far has refused to change the laws that disproportionately...
In revising its guidelines, the federal commission in some ways is simply catching up with the states. Amid almost universal criticism of the federal government's 100:1 ratio, only 13 states still make a legal distinction between crack and powder cocaine, and none of these states applies as harsh...