The Fair Sentencing Act did not apply retroactively, but in 2011, the Sentencing Commission amended the Sentencing Guidelines to lower the Guidelines range for crack-cocaine offenses and applied that reduction retroactively for some defendants.
Concepcion v united states crack#
Section 2 of that Act increased the amount of crack cocaine needed to trigger a 5-to-40-year sentencing range from 5 grams to 28 grams. In resentencing proceedings, courts may consider nonretroactive Guidelines changes, rehabilitation, and unrelated Guidelines changes.Ĭongress passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to correct the wide disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing. The “as if ” clause does not impose any limit on the information a court can consider in exercising its discretion. A court may not consider a First Step Act motion only if the movant’s sentence was already reduced under the Fair Sentencing Act or if the court considered and rejected a First Step Act motion. District courts’ discretion is bounded only when Congress or the Constitution expressly limits the type of information the court may consider. The First Step Act allows courts to consider intervening changes of law or fact in exercising their discretion to reduce a sentence. The First Circuit affirmed the denial of his motion. Concepcion pointed to post-sentencing evidence of rehabilitation. Concepcion sought a sentence reduction under the First Step Act, arguing that he would no longer be considered a career offender because one of his prior convictions had been vacated and his remaining convictions would not constitute crimes of violence. The 2018 First Step Act authorized district courts to “impose a reduced sentence” on defendants serving sentences for certain crack-cocaine offenses “as if" the Fair Sentencing Act "were in effect" when the offense was committed.īecause Concepcion was sentenced as a career offender, he was not eligible for relief under the 2011 amendment. A 2011 Sentencing Guidelines amendment lowered the sentencing range for crack-cocaine offenses, retroactively for some defendants. The 2010 Fair Sentencing Act corrected a disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing it did not apply retroactively.
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