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The inequalities of our justice system are made apparent by the statistics show black Americans are disproportionately imprisoned, but more insidiously through systemic policy issues highlighted by the sentencing discrepancy between cocaine and crack. Sentencing is a central part of the criminal justice system that is affected by politics, private enterprise, and other darker elements. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 brought the sentencing ratio between cocaine and crack down from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1 by raising the quantity required to trigger statutory mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment. The U.S. Sentencing Commission held a public hearing on June 1st 2011, to discuss retroactively applying the law to the potential benefit of 6,000 prisoners who would have their average sentence reduced from 13 to 10 years. Attorney General Eric Holder and Marc Mauer Executive director of The Sentencing Project were amongst those that gave testimony in support of retroactively applying the Fair Sentencing Act.

GUEST: Marc Mauer, Executive Director at The Sentencing Project

Find out more at: www.sentencingproject.org