Lowered crack terms could free 20,000 early

The U.S. Sentencing Commission is considering retroactive changes that could mean shortened sentences for nearly 20,000 federal prisoners convicted of crack cocaine related offenses.

The commission heard Tuesday from a federal judge and advocacy groups who favor making the change retroactive, and from the Justice Department and others who oppose it.

Guidelines that went into effect November 1 already have reduced the disparity between sentences for crack possession convictions and convictions for possessing cocaine in powder form.

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