Search Results for: \"crack cocaine\"

The US prides itself on being a nation built on freedom, justice, and individual rights. And yet the evolution of its system of mass incarceration — a system that cannot be defined without reference to shocking racial disparities — seems to directly contradict these founding principles. The US prison population dwarfs those of nearly every other [...]

US Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel David Weiss revealed on Thursday that a federal grand jury indicted President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden on three firearms charges. The charges come almost two months after a federal district judge rejected a plea deal in which Hunter Biden would have avoided federal gun charges in exchange [...]

Canadian law students are reporting for JURIST on national and international developments in and affecting Canada. Mélanie Cantin is JURIST’s Chief Correspondent for Canada and a 2L at the University of Ottawa.  As of today, Tuesday January 31, 2023, it is no longer a criminal offence to possess under 2.5 grams of certain previously illicit [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Concepcion v. United States that judges should have sentencing discretion under the 2018 First Step Act and 2010 Fair Sentencing act in crack-cocaine cases. The 2010 Fair Sentencing Act brought crack-cocaine sentencing more in-line with cocaine sentencing. Prior to the act, crack-cocaine sentences were far harsher than cocaine [...]

President Joe Biden Tuesday pardoned three convicted felons – Abraham Bolden Sr., Betty Jo Bogans and Dexter Jackson – and commuted the prison sentences of 75 others. The individuals granted clemency came at the recommendation of the Department of Justice’s pardon attorney. The first to be pardoned was Abraham Bolden Sr., a former Secret Service [...]

The US Supreme Court added five cases to its docket on Thursday following its “long conference” on September 27. Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate is a suit filed by the Republican Texas senator challenging a federal law that restricts when and how an electoral candidate can repay personal loans to their own [...]

The US Supreme Court held on Monday that sentence reduction under the First Step Act is available only if an offender’s prior conviction for a crack cocaine offense triggered a mandatory minimum sentence. In 2018 Congress passed the First Step Act, which made previous sentencing reforms that reduced the sentencing disparity to 18 to 1, retroactive. Under [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the final case of its term on Tuesday in Terry v. United States, about reductions of prison sentences for certain crack cocaine offenses. In 2008 Tarahrick Terry was arrested and charged under 21 USC § 841(a)(1) for carrying just shy of 4 grams of crack cocaine, and [...]

In a notice submitted to the US Supreme Court on Monday, acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar stated that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has reconsidered its position with regard to whether possession of a small amount of cocaine base with intent to distribute constitutes a “covered offense” under Section 404 of the First Step [...]

The Trump administration executed Corey Johnson by lethal injection on Thursday. Johnson was convicted for a series of seven murders committed in 1992 and became the twelfth federal inmate put to death since July. The execution followed two separate appeals by Johnson’s attorneys for a stay of execution. In the first appeal they argued that Johnson [...]