WASHINGTON – President Obama today signed an historic piece of legislation that narrows the crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity from 100:1 to 18:1 and for the first time eliminates the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine.
The Fair Sentencing Act (S. 1789), unanimously passed by the Senate in March and approved by the House last week, now becomes law at a time when the U.S. Sentencing Commission is reconsidering the legitimacy and effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentencing and ahead of a report on the subject the commission is expected to release in October.
