by Mark Daniels
Signing of the Fair Sentencing Act is a small step in the right direction, but I have to ask if it is a political signing considering the timing of it coming as Mid-term elections loom large. I hope the people will not be deceived by Obama's antics. He lied to get into office, so he will do anything to maintain power. Like, the ACLU, I am happy to see any changes which may lessen the injustices of our so called "justice" system, but I will not vote for a Democrat or a Republican for any office!
Please read the following article written by Vanita Gupta, Deputy Legal Director, Center for Justice
From Incredible to Inevitable: How the Politics of Criminal Justice Reform May Be Shifting
Yesterday, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into law. Though this new law retains an unjustifiable federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses, it is a remarkable criminal justice reform measure. Ten years ago, advocates working to repeal the notorious 100-to-1 sentencing disparity were thought of as naïve. Yet 2010 saw a bipartisan bill aimed at reforming a mandatory minimum actually get through Congress and receive the president's signature for the first time since the Nixon administration. Yesterday's passage of the Fair Sentencing Act is one of several recent developments signaling that the political landscape of criminal justice reform truly has shifted — perhaps not seismically, but significantly. The opportunity to cut and reform our bloated, inefficient system is now.
In the last couple of years, states across the nation from New York to Kansas have downsized their prisons. Hard economic times have persuaded some state legislatures to reexamine their addiction to incarceration, ushering in practical alternatives that promote public safety. South Carolina just passed a landmarksentencing reform act that mandates alternatives to incarceration for many low-level offenders. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Kimbrough that judges can sentence defendants to less time than is prescribed by federal sentencing guidelines if the guidelines were based on faulty or scant-considered evidence — as was the case with crack cocaine. The U.S. Sentencing Commission has conducted a thorough review of the effects of mandatory minimum sentences and will publish its findings in a report this fall. And the House of Representatives last week passed the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, which, if approved by the Senate, would establish a blue-ribbon panel to review the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Given Congress's historic reluctance to consider criminal justice reform, this is no small thing.
