Last year, the US Congress passed a bill easing crack cocaine sentences, after critics argued for years that the laws targeted minorities while whites who generally used or sold powder cocaine drew far shorter sentences. Under a law passed in the 1980s, a person convicted of crack possession got the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the amount of powdered cocaine.

“The Fair Sentencing Act” affects all future crack cocaine convictions. But over the summer, the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to make the new crack guidelines retroactive.

“For the past 25 years, the 100-to-1 crack/powder disparity has spawned clouds of controversy and an aura of unfairness that has shrouded nearly every federal crack cocaine sentence that was handed down pursuant to that law. I say justice demands this result,” said Ketanji Brown Jackson, vice chairwoman of the sentencing commission.

Jesselyn McCurdy with the American Civil Liberties Union points out that mandatory sentences for crack are still 18 times more severe than guidelines set for powder cocaine.

“This is an incremental step in trying to address the disparity, but we think the only fair way to treat these two drugs is to treat them and punish them in the same manner,” says McCurdy.

Some first time offenders received as many as 23+ years for crack cocaine violations. The commission estimates about 12,000 inmates could benefit overall.

In New Jersey, drug attorney Randolph Wolf said he expects to see the number of cases up for review increase dramatically this week, as each individual case will need to be brought before a judge for review.