We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

SENTENCING COMMISSION ISSUES CRACK RETROACTIVITY UPDATE

The Sentencing Commission last Friday issued a report on releases under the Fair Sentencing Act retroactivity granted by the First Step Act. Since First Step became law last December, the courts have granted 1,051 crack sentence reductions.

The breakdown by district shows Middle and Southern Florida, South Carolina and Virginia are the places to be. Those five districts accounted for about 29% of all grants. One third of the 94 districts contributed only  2.5% of the total, with 20 districts not granting a single motion.

What was missing from the USSC analysis was a figure on the number of motions denied, which would have provided a much clearer picture of any discrepancies among the districts in how the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive reductions were being applied.

The sentence reductions averaged 29 months, with the 5th Circuit courts averaging the best at 35.3 months and the 1st Circuit being the worst at 22.6 months. Over 91% of all defendants getting time cuts are black.

U.S. Sentencing Commission, First Step Act of 2018 Resentencing Provisions Retroactivity Data Report (June 7, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root