During some of the bloodiest years of the drug wars of the 1980s, crack was seen as far more dangerous than powdered cocaine, and that perception was written into the sentencing laws. Now that notion is under attack like never before. ...more

December 30, 2007

Sixty-one percent of defendants sentenced in the Bush administration's crackdown on corporate fraud spent no more than two years in prison, escaping the stiff penalties given WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp. executives. ...more

December 13, 2007

The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to allow about 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences. ...more

December 12, 2007

The Supreme Court on Monday restored federal judges to their traditional central role in criminal sentencing. ...more

December 11, 2007

On Nov. 1, with little fanfare, Congress accepted a long-needed correction to prison sentencing guidelines for people caught selling crack cocaine. ...more

November 19, 2007

A government attorney told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that a federal judge cannot ignore Congress' intent that trafficking in crack cocaine should carry tougher penalties than selling powder cocaine. ...more

October 3, 2007