Insights & Information

According to an editorial appearing in The New York Times, the Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the differing treatment in sentencing of crack and powder cocaine possession. Crack and powder cocaine are different forms of the same drug, however until only recently sentencing was almost 100 times more severe for possession of crack as opposed to powder forms. The matter discussed this week is whether the new equal treatment law can be applied to individuals whose crimes were committed before the law became effective but were sentenced afterwards. "There will probably be thousands of crack defendants who will be sentenced under the old mandatory minimums that Congress repealed because they were perceived as being racially disparate and unfair," said Michael R. Dreeben, a lawyer for the federal government, "I think everyone in Congress understood that these guidelines had undermined the credibility of the criminal justice system for years." To read the full article, click here.