From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Repairing injustice in the War on Drugs.

Hello again, I'm Armin Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

that daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Congress has agreed that law has passed against crack cocaine in the 1980s were much too harsh and discriminatory against African Americans.

Two weeks ago, the House and the Senate allowed new guidelines that make sentences for crack commensurate with those for powder cocaine.

On to the point, with blacks and whites serving different sentences for the same crime,

should the change be made retroactive?

Would 20,000 criminals be released all at once?

Is it time for a broader reform of federal drug laws?

On reporter's notebook later on, can Blackwater Guards be prosecuted for killing Iraqi civilians?

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again. Marman Alney, back with To the Point. Congress has relaxed, overly harsh and discriminatory penalties for crack as opposed to powder cocaine.

But federal prisons are still full of blacks and whites serving different sentences for the same crimes.

On To the Point, should sentencing guidelines be made retroactive?

Would that lead to the sudden release of 20,000 prisoners? Does the war on drugs need other

reforms? On reporters' notebooks and big decisions for Michael Mukasey, the new Attorney General

just warned in today, were Blackwater Guards unjustified in killing Iraqi civilians, and if so, can they be prosecuted?

First, this news update.

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