United States Sentencing Commission Public Hearing on Crack Retroactivity (11/21/2007)

Michael was a husband and the father of a little girl when he had his first run-in with the law. Depressed over losing his job, Michael drank too much one night, took a toy gun, and robbed a taxi driver and his passenger, taking $50.

The Supreme Court has invalidated sentencing guidelines for the federal and state courts because they allow a judges to consider evidence and issues that were never presented to the jury. With a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled in United Statesv. Booker that any factor increasing a criminal sentence under the guidelines -- other than a prior conviction -- must be admitted by a defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Susan LeFevre was just 19 years old when she was arrested for selling heroin to an undercover cop. She pled guilty to the first-time offense, thinking the judge would be lenient. Instead, he gave her the maximum: 10 to 20 years in prison.