Obama Commutes 8 "Unfair" Crack Cocaine Sentences as the ACLU Calls For More Reforms to Drug Laws
December 20, 2013
3,650
48
13
1.67%
Search the Record
IndexedEvery word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Amy Goodman Episodes Around December 20, 2013
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
10:52Now PlayingObama Commutes 8 "Unfair" Crack Cocaine Sentences as the ACLU Calls For More Reforms to Drug Laws
YouTube Description
as posted by the channelIn 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.
Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,200+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Check out our vast news archive and stream live 89am ET at
FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Twitter: @democracynow
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen on SoundCloud
Daily Email News Digest
Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit
Guests & Subjects Covered
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.