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The Guidelines are the product of the United States Sentencing Commission, which was created by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. [3] The Guidelines' primary goal was to alleviate sentencing disparities that research had indicated were prevalent in the existing sentencing system, and the guidelines reform was specifically intended to provide for determinate sentencing.
Crack cocaine. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111–220 (text)) was an Act of Congress that was signed into federal law by United States President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010, that reduces the disparity between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine needed to trigger certain federal criminal penalties from a 100:1 weight ratio to an 18:1 weight ratio [1] and eliminated the ...
Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S. 85 (2007), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court confirmed that federal district judges utilize, in an advisory (not as law) fashion, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, in cases involving conduct related to possession, distribution, and manufacture of crack cocaine.
[17] The "Drugs Minus Two Amendment" changed the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines to "reduce the applicable sentencing guideline range for most federal drug trafficking offenses." [ 17 ] The Commission voted to make the Amendment retroactive on July 18, 2014, "thereby allowing eligible offenders serving a previously imposed term of ...
The Smarter Sentencing Act is a bill in the United States Senate that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for some federal drug offenses. In some cases, the new minimums would apply retroactively, giving some people currently in prison on drug offenses a new sentence.
The safety valve is a provision in the Sentencing Reform Act and the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines that authorizes a sentence below the statutory minimum for certain nonviolent, non-managerial drug offenders with little or no criminal history.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 increased penalties and established mandatory sentencing for drug violations. The Office of National Drug Control Policy was created in 1989. Although these additional laws increased drug-related arrest throughout the country, they also incarcerated more African Americans than whites. [3]
For example, defendants with prior drug felonies are often subject to harsh mandatory minimums, but a prosecutor can exercise discretion to not file a prior felony information. Then the mandatory minimum will not be applied. [16] Safety Valve [17] was created in 1994 to reduce mandatory sentencing for drug offenders under the following provisions: