Politics and Crime

Court Rules Judges Can Reduce Crack Sentences Supreme Court decides judges may impose shorter prison terms for crack convictions to reduce disparities in crack and powder cocaine cases. Damn, now all of a sudden the Supreme Court is concerned about Black and Brown People. as reported in WaPo: In the crack case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it was reasonable for a federal judge in Virginia to impose a lower sentence than one prescribed by the guidelines because of his disagreement with the rule that imposed the same sentence for a crack dealer as for someone selling 100 times as much powder cocaine. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said the law did not allow the judge to make such a determination.

But Ginsburg wrote that "the cocaine guidelines, like all other guidelines, are advisory only" and that the "the court of appeals erred in holding the crack/powder disparity effectively mandatory."

The disparity has been challenged by civil rights groups because crack is most often used by African Americans, powder cocaine by whites, thus subjecting blacks to the tougher penalties. The court's decision did not touch on that argument.

More HERE What do you think about that?


I guess this won't help Michael Vick who was sentenced to 23 months.

CBS News.com Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy that involved gambling and killing pit bulls.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.

The judge is a former prosecutor, with a reputation for tough sentences from the bench with photographs of his own dogs hanging in his office, says CBS News chief legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

"You add all that up and you get what Vick got: A tough sentence," says Cohen.

After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."

"Yes, sir," Vick answered. More HERE

AAPP: I don't agree with the sentence, the sentence was in my opinion much to harsh. I do agree that he needs to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to him. let's see if Vick will be allowed to come back like so many others who are not black have?