Prison Reform To Reduce Sentences Of Non-Violent Drug Offenders

"Robert Shipp was 21 when a federal judge sentenced him to die in prison for selling crack. For five months in the mid-1990s, Shipp had acted as a 'night shift supervisor’ in a small-scale Chicago distribution ring. Because he was held personally responsible for the amount of crack moved during that period—10.29 grams—his sentence was mandatory: life. Even as US District Judge Marvin Aspen handed down Shipp's sentence, he noted that the sentencing guidelines were 'not, in my view, realistic in terms of the sentence for the offense, and in my view they are unfair.'

Last week, President Obama commuted the sentences of 46 nonviolent federal drug offenders whose 'punishments didn't fit the crime,' as Obama said in a video released by the White House. But those people are a tiny fraction of the more than 95,000 federal prisoners serving years—sometimes decades—for drug crimes. Almost 2,000 are, like Shipp, serving life without parole, according to an ACLU analysis.

A lesser-known policy change, enacted in 2014 with far less fanfare, will affect 1,000 times the number of people as Obama's commutations. Colloquially known as 'drugs minus two,' the amendment to the US Sentencing Commission's guidelines could reduce the sentences of as many as 46,000 people.” *

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian (The Point) discuss on The Young Turks. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

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