Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
Obama Commutes 8 "Unfair" Crack Cocaine Sentences as the ACLU Calls For More Reforms to Drug Laws
Posted
December 20, 2013
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10:52Now PlayingIn a major victory for prisoner rights advocates, President Obama has commuted the sentences of eight people he said were serving unfair sentences for drug crimes. Most of the six men and two women had been sentenced to life in prison for charges related to crack cocaine. All of them have already spent more than 15 years behind bars under what Obama called an "unfair system," where there was a 100to1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses. That disparity was reduced by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, but it came too late for thousands of inmates. "This is huge news. This gives these people the opportunity to return to their families," says Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher with the American Civil Liberties Union and author of the report, "A Living DeathLife Without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses." Turner notes that Obama's action is "an important first step" and calls on Congress to pass broader sentencing reform.
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