The United States Sentencing Commission voted today to apply the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 guidelines to the retroactively to those currently serving sentences for crack cocaine charges. The amendment will become effective on November 1, 2011.  Last August, House lawmakers approved a measure to reduce sentencing inconsistencies between crack and powder cocaine. For the past 30 years, people arrested for crack offenses faced more severe sentencing than those caught with powder cocaine. A person found in possession of 500 grams of powder … [Read more...]