New Standards Reduce Crack Cocaine Terms

Crack cocaine offenders will receive shorter prison sentences under new federal guidelines, which replaced rules that treated a gram of crack like 100 grams of powder cocaine. The rules introduced yesterday reduce the average sentence to 8 years, 10 months, the Times reports, and may reflect an effort to restore credibility to sentencing guidelines judges often ignored.

The Reagan-era penalties draw criticism from civil rights activists, who say more than 80% of federal crack convicts are black. The federal sentencing commission argued the rules diverted resources to small-time dealers. A failed attempt to overturn the rules in 1995 resulted in nationwide prison riots. The commission will meet Nov. 13 to discuss applying the rules retroactively to current inmates. (More crack cocaine stories.)