JUSTICE IS SERVED

This was clearly unfair.

For years, crimes involving the powdered form of cocaine included
lighter sentences than those involving crack cocaine.

Yet, 86 percent of federal crack cocaine criminals are
black.

Under previous guidelines, people must possess 500 grams of powdered
cocaine before they would be subject to the same mandatory five-year
prison sentence as people convicted of possessing just 5 grams of
crack cocaine, the NAACP reported.

Since these were mandatory prison sentences, then African-Americans
were being put in jail for much longer terms than their white
counterparts.

Finally, justice has been done.

On Nov. 1, new, equitable guidelines from the U.S. Sentencing
Commission took effect for both kinds of drug crimes, The Associated
Press reported.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal judges can
impose more equitable sentences for crack cocaine crimes.

And Tuesday, the Sentencing Commission ruled that these new guidelines
could be carried out retroactively. That means prison time may be cut
for almost 20,000 federal inmates. About 800 of them from Northeast
Florida may be affected, the Times-Union reported yesterday.

This is no blanket release, however. Crack cocaine criminals may
petition the courts that sentenced them for a reduction in their
prison time, The Washington Post reported.

If the cocaine sentencing is the only issue, then the criminals ought
to have their sentences treated equitably and released. If, however,
there are other issues, such as whether there are other crimes
involved, then sentences should not be cut.

Next on the agenda should be finding a way to transition these
ex-offenders into a life of employment.