The U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued new guidelines that reduce average sentences for crack-cocaine offenses and bring penalties more in line with those meted out to offenders caught selling or possessing powdered cocaine, the New York Times reported Nov. 2.

After years of debate over the sentencing disparity, the sentencing panel quietly reduced the average crack sentence from 10 years, 1 month to 8 years, 10 months. Congress let a mandatory 180-day review period pass without challenging the commission's recommendation.

Committee members must next decide whether the change should apply retroactively to the estimated 19,500 crack offenders sentenced under the prior guidelines. The Department of Justice opposes making the change retroactive. "We believe this would be a mistake, having a serious impact on the safety of our communities and impose an unreasonable burden upon our judicial system," said spokesperson Peter Carr.

Congress is still considering a trio of bills that would reduce or eliminate mandatory drug sentences. The commission has been trying to get Congress to address the disparity in cocaine penalties for more than a decade.