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Federal Defenders memo about DOJ position on crack retroactivity

By Douglas A. Berman

I just got a copy of an interesting little memo from the Sentencing Resource Counsel of the Federal Public and Community Defenders, which clearly was written to respond to concerns within the defense bar as a result of the recent testimony of AG Mukasey urging Congress to block the retroactive implementation of the new crack guidelines.  Here is how the memo (which can be downloaded below) starts and ends:Many of you have expressed concern over the Attorney General?s public declaration of the Department of Justice?s intention to propose new legislation to repeal the crack retroactivity decisions of Congress and the Sentencing Commission. The Attorney General?s proposed legislation would eliminate an available mechanism for a sentence reduction based on the Sentencing Commission?s careful findings that guideline ranges for crack defendants are greater than necessary to accomplish the goals of sentencing and have a racially disparate impact...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).