US panel to consider expanding compassionate release for prisoners

(Reuters) – A U.S. panel on Wednesday will consider whether to expand the ability of federal prisoners to seek compassionate release and limit the ability of judges to punish people for conduct that juries acquitted them of committing. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, the agency which sets sentencing guidelines for federal judges, could also vote to implement a key part of major gun law passed last year. That provision would stiffen prison sentences for straw purchasers – proxy buyers who purchase a firearm on behalf of someone else, a policy change which advocates warn could disproportionately impact Black people. The seven-member,…