The United States has the highest per capita prison population of any western country and almost half of the federal prison inmates are there for drug crimes. Federal sentencing laws are under review for reduction in mandatory sentencing for certain crimes, especially for drug crimes, which can affect poor and minorities disproportionately.
Sentencing reform works to greatly reduce the prison populations. The Federal Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 addressed the disparity in Federal sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine. The “U.S. Sentencing Commission Report on the Impact of Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, states that federal prosecutions for crack cocaine were down significantly in 2014 from what they were in 2010. In fact, approximately half as many crack cocaine offenders were sentenced in the federal system between 2010 and 2014.
We often hear about congressional gridlock and partisanship in Washington, but a blend of libertarians, like Senator Mike Lee (R) Utah, liberal democrats, like Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois and conservatives, John Boehner (R) Ohio , and Senator Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee are supporting the sentencing reform measures.
Hopefully these unlikely allies from both sides of the aisle will get additional sentencing reform passed soon. The proposed leeway in sentencing low-level drug offenders and the implementation of recidivism programs to earn up to 25% off a sentence would aid judges greatly in determining the fate of many.
Source: ussc.gov, “Report on the Impact of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010”, accessed August 10, 2015.
