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First Inmates Freed in Crack Overhaul
Federal prisons are beginning to release prisoners to comply with new crack-cocaine sentencing guidelines, the Washington Post reports. The US Sentencing Commission made more than 3,000 inmates...
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New York to Roll Back Strict '70s Drug Laws
New York's governor and legislative leaders have agreed to repeal some of the nation's most draconian drug laws, the New York Times reports. The move to dismantle strict mandatory sentencing guidelines...
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Accident or No, Gunfire Gets Automatic Penalty: Supremes
The Supreme Court says accidentally shooting a gun during the commission of a crime should bring the same penalties as intentionally using a firearm. The high court today upheld the conviction and...
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Millennium Bomber to Be Resentenced
The 22-year sentence a Seattle judge gave a man who plotted to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on the last day of 1999 is so soft it constitutes a procedural error, an appeals court ruled...
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Probation Violation Sends Ex-Detroit Mayor to Prison
Courtroom spectators gasped today when a judge sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to between 1½ and 5 years in prison, far exceeding the sentencing guideline of zero to 17 months for...
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Congress Cuts Racist Crack Sentencing Disparity
Congress quietly eased up the federal sentencing guideline on crack cocaine yesterday, addressing one of the more glaring disparities of the drug war. In what critics have called a racist...
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Calif. '3 Strikes' Convict Freed
A homeless man sentenced to 25 years to life for trying to break into a church soup kitchen to find food has been freed by a Los Angeles judge. Gregory Taylor received the stiff sentence under...
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White-Collar Sentences: Too Harsh, or Too Soft?
Should Bruce Karatz spend half a decade in prison—or no time at all? Karatz, the ex-CEO of KB Homes, has been convicted of trying to swindle the company out of $11 million. The probation office says he...
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Holder Backs Release of 5,500 Crack Offenders
Eric Holder today told the US Sentencing Commission that he supports a proposal to release thousands of federal prisoners convicted on crack-related offenses. Until Congress changed them last year,...
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Holder to Ax 'Draconian' Drug Sentences
Eric Holder is set to today to reveal what the Washington Post is calling the planned "cornerstone of the rest of his tenure": a revamp of federal prison policy. And one part of the overhaul—a big...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Probation Violation Sends Ex-Detroit Mayor to Prison
Courtroom spectators gasped today when a judge sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to between 1½ and 5 years in prison, far exceeding the sentencing guideline of zero to 17 months for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Congress Cuts Racist Crack Sentencing Disparity
Congress quietly eased up the federal sentencing guideline on crack cocaine yesterday, addressing one of the more glaring disparities of the drug war. In what critics have called a racist...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Calif. '3 Strikes' Convict Freed
A homeless man sentenced to 25 years to life for trying to break into a church soup kitchen to find food has been freed by a Los Angeles judge. Gregory Taylor received the stiff sentence under...
View ArticleClik here to view.
White-Collar Sentences: Too Harsh, or Too Soft?
Should Bruce Karatz spend half a decade in prison—or no time at all? Karatz, the ex-CEO of KB Homes, has been convicted of trying to swindle the company out of $11 million. The probation office says he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Holder Backs Release of 5,500 Crack Offenders
Eric Holder today told the US Sentencing Commission that he supports a proposal to release thousands of federal prisoners convicted on crack-related offenses. Until Congress changed them last year,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Holder to Ax 'Draconian' Drug Sentences
Eric Holder is set to today to reveal what the Washington Post is calling the planned "cornerstone of the rest of his tenure": a revamp of federal prison policy. And one part of the overhaul—a big...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trump Supports Sweeping Criminal Justice Reform Bill
"Did I hear the word bipartisan?" President Trump asked Wednesday as he announced his support for a major reform of prison and sentencing laws. The First Step Act, which the AP calls the "first major...
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McConnell Agreed to a Vote Senators Wanted for 3 Years
Under pressure from President Trump and many of his Republican colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he will bring legislation to the floor as soon as this week to...
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Senate Passes Sweeping Criminal Justice Overhaul
The Senate passed a sweeping criminal justice bill Tuesday that addresses concerns that the nation's war on drugs had led to the imprisonment of too many Americans for non-violent crimes without...
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