NCJ Number
222870
Date Published
October 2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission provides data on recent court decisions that have considered motions to reduce the length of imprisonment for certain offenders convicted of offenses involving crack cocaine prior to November 1, 2007, the date when an amendment to the Federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses became effective.
Abstract
Amendment 706 modified the drug quantity thresholds in the Drug Quantity Table so as to assign for crack cocaine offenses base offense levels corresponding to guideline ranges that include the statutory mandatory minimum penalties. Crack cocaine offenses for quantities above and below the mandatory minimum threshold quantities similarly were adjusted downward by two levels. The amendment also includes a mechanism to determine a combined base offense level for an offense involving crack cocaine and other controlled substances. On December 11, 2007, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to approve Amendment 713, which amended Section 1B1.10 of the guidelines to include Amendment 706 in the list of amendments that apply retroactively. As a result, some incarcerated offenders are eligible to receive a sentence reduction. Data tables show the geographical distribution of the application of retroactive crack cocaine amendment by district and judicial circuit, as well as by year of original sentence. A table also shows the demographic characteristics of offenders considered for sentence reduction under the retroactive crack cocaine amendment. Another table indicates selected sentencing factors for offenders who were considered for sentence reduction under the retroactive crack cocaine amendment. A table then shows the position of within-range sentences for offenders granted a sentence reduction. This is followed by a table that shows the degree of decrease in sentence due to the retroactive amendment by judicial circuit. The concluding table shows the reasons sentencing courts denied motions for a sentence reduction under the retroactive amendment. 8 tables