In an historic move, the 100-1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing appears to finally be about to meet its much sought-after and long overdue demise. The significant reduction in sentencing disparities was passed in the Senate under unanimous consent.
The two-decade crusade for the elimination of disparities, led by the likes of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, The Sentencing Project and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and others appears to finally be paying off. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 now moves to the House of Representatives for further action.
If the Fair Sentencing Act passes as expected, the abominable and (many say) racially motivated disparities between crack and powder cocaine would be reduced from 100-1 in sentencing to 18-1. Senators Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Jeff Sessions R-Ala., reached a compromise to raise the trigger amount of crack cocaine for the 5-year mandatory minimum from 5 grams to 28 grams. The trigger for the 10-year mandatory minimum would be raised from 50 grams to 280 grams.
“This is an historic move as nearly 5,000 people each year are sentenced to serve excessively long mandatory crack cocaine sentences in federal prison, often for low-level offenses,” said Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project. “This notorious law has led to enormous racial disparity in federal prison and contributed to a perception of unfairness within communities of color. Addressing this misguided policy is long overdue.”
While some are elated that Congress is finally acting after two decades of blatant injustices in sentencing, others like Laura W. Murphy, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office, are unmoved.
“The Fair Sentencing Act is an encouraging step toward eliminating the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine but still allows for a needlessly unfair sentencing framework. The unanimous passage of this bill speaks to the understanding across the political spectrum that this disparity is unjust and in need of reform. Years of research has yielded no evidence of any appreciable difference between crack and powder cocaine and yet we continue to inflict this disparity on Americans,” Murphy said.
The ACLU, Murphy goes on to say, believes that there is still room for injustices, racial or otherwise, to be eliminated. “For over two decades, this sentencing disparity has been a stain on our justice system. Though this bill’s passage is long overdue, it does not go far enough. Without a simple and fair 1-1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine, we cannot say that these sentencing laws meet constitutional muster.” –terry shropshire
