Further, a defendant who previously filed a motion for a reduction in sentence under the First Step Act and was denied after a review on the merits also cannot relitigate a reduction motion. There are a number of factors that a court must consider when imposing a sentence on an individual in federal court. Those factors, listed at 18 U. Those factors are applicable when a person makes a motion for the court to reduce his or her sentence under the First Step Act. Specifically, after a motion for a reduction of sentence is made, the court has the option to decide whether to hold a full resentencing hearing, or conduct a more limited resentencing.
In either case, the court will conduct a sentencing hearing, and therefore the guidelines and policy statements in 18 U. The motion for a reduction in sentence does not have to be initiated by an inmate.
While an inmate who believes he or she is eligible for a reduction in sentence under the First Step Act can certainly initiate the process, the process can also be initiated by others. In particular, the Chief Judge of each district — who can obtain a list of inmates eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act — is able to, on their own motion, reduce sentences for those eligible inmates.
A reduction in sentence motion can also be initiated by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, or the attorney for the Government. Fortunately, the First Step Act has rectified an injustice relating to a disparity in penalties for crack vs. Now, any inmate who was sentenced before the effective date of the Fair Sentencing Act August 3, and who did not already receive the benefit of the Fair Sentencing Act is eligible for a reduction in sentence. Contact Brandon Sample, Esq. Brandon Sample is an attorney, author, and criminal justice reform activist.
I was not able to benefit since I had a Mandatory Minimum of 10 years. I since have been released and what to know if I can still get the benefit for the new Law. If I can file a Motion in regards to this will it help me get released from Supervisor Release. Jump to navigation Skip navigation.
In , Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act FSA , which reduced the sentencing disparity between offenses for crack and powder cocaine from to The scientifically unjustifiable ratio meant that people faced longer sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine than for offenses involving the same amount of powder cocaine — two forms of the same drug. Most disturbingly, because the majority of people arrested for crack offenses are African American, the ratio resulted in vast racial disparities in the average length of sentences for comparable offenses.
On average, under the regime, African Americans served virtually as much time in prison for non-violent drug offenses as whites did for violent offenses.
The FSA represents a decade-long, and truly bipartisan, effort to reduce the racial disparities caused by the draconian crack cocaine sentencing laws and to restore confidence in the criminal justice system — particularly in communities of color.
In another step toward fairness, in , the U. Sentencing Commission voted to retroactively apply the new FSA Sentencing Guidelines to individuals sentenced before the law was enacted. It also directed the Commission to amend the U. Sentencing Guidelines to account for specified aggravating and mitigating circumstances in drug trafficking offenses involving any drug type. Pursuant to the directive contained in section 10 of the FSA, this report assesses the impact of the FSA on the federal criminal justice system.
This section also provides a historical overview of federal cocaine sentencing policy since It examines federal sentencing data to answer the following questions:. Section Three analyzes the impact of Section Three of the Fair Sentencing Act of related to the elimination of the mandatory minimum penalty for simple possession of crack cocaine. Section Four of this report analyzes the impact of Section Four of the Fair Sentencing Act of related to increased penalties for major drug traffickers, specifically fine penalties.
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