Former federal judge is striving for balance

As chairman of the Judicial Conference's Criminal Law Committee, Cassell said he spoke for the judiciary when he sent a letter to the president and Congress supporting the Federal Sentencing Commission's recommendation to reduce sentences for crack cocaine possession versus powder. Such sentences bear a 100-to-1 ratio to sentences for powder cocaine.

"The differences between crack and powder cocaine penalties have been hurting the federal judiciary's credibility in minority communities, particularly in the African-American communities, who view the differences as racially motivated," Cassell said.

The controversial part is the sentencing commission's recommendation to make the change retroactive, meaning an estimated 19,500 federal prisoners could be eligible for sentence reductions, releasing several thousand inmates immediately.

"The question on the other side is, does that harm public safety to release drug dealers from prison? I felt like the fairness perceptions that were created more than outweighed the marginally deterrent effect of keeping a fair number of drug dealers in prison a little bit longer," he said.

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