Word: ratio
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...that was unthinkable even a few years ago: scrapping the federal sentencing structure established in 1986 that gives far harsher penalties for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine, resulting in prisons packed with low-level, predominantly African American offenders. The mechanism is known as the "100-to-1 drug ratio," which gives crack cocaine 100 times the weight of powder cocaine. Under the ratio, a person convicted of selling five grams of crack - about the weight of a teaspoon of salt - triggers the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as a person convicted of selling 500 grams of powder cocaine...
Even if that ratio is abolished, as appears increasingly likely, it's not clear that it will benefit offenders like Echols, who are already behind bars. The fates of tens of thousands of prisoners serving long sentences could hang in the balance as policymakers and politicians grapple with whether changes to the nation's crack laws should be applied retroactively...
...high," says Charles Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, a lobbying group for investor-owned hospitals, and a former lobbyist for the insurance industry during Bill Clinton's health-care reform battle in the 1990s. Essentially, a wider "age band," like the 5-to-1 ratio insurers favor, would allow them to charge higher amounts to middle-aged people not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare, while keeping younger people's premiums much lower. In a recent letter to Henry Waxman - chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of five congressional committees with jurisdiction over...
...young person and a conservative is such a rare combination these days it approaches an act of defiance. Voters in their teens and 20s backed President Barack Obama by a 2-to-1 ratio over John McCain last year, amid a flood of support from musicians, movie stars and other youth icons. Late-night TV hosts lampoon Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney as punch lines while MTV throws support to left-leaning causes like gay marriage. But hundreds of young people with a different perspective are flocking to Washington, D.C., for the Young America's Foundation's 31st annual National...
...girls under the age of 20. The total number of young people is a problem as well; factories have reported youth-labor shortages in recent years, a problem that will only get worse. In 2007 there were six adults of working age for every retiree, but by 2040 that ratio is expected to drop to 2 to 1. Analysts fear that with too few children to care for them, China's elderly people will suffer neglect...