Crack cocaine prisoners should get a break, says AG Eric Holder

(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says some prisoners already serving time should catch a break from a new law that lowers sentences for crack cocaine offenses.

The Fair Sentencing Act, passed and signed into law last year, rights what has long been considered an injustice in drug sentencing laws - that those caught with the crack version of cocaine tended to get longer sentences than those who were caught with powdered form of the drug.

But it only applies to new cases.

Speaking before the U.S. Sentencing Commission Wednesday, Holder suggested the new rule could be retroactively applied to those who have already been sentenced under the old guidelines.

Holder told commission that prisoners sentenced before the act passed should now be given shorter sentences if their crimes didn't involve weapons and the prisoners involved don't have long arrest records.

The commission is expected to rule within the next few months. Four of the six members would have to vote to support the idea. Congress would then have until the end of October to reject or modify the guidelines.