Now, the ten year sentence is triggered by 280 grams of crack instead of 50. That resulted in a disparity with powder of about 18 to 1. In the mid 80s, congress passed the antidrug abuse act of 1986. The very next day, president barack obama signed the fair. Because crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug, there should not be any disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses the only truly fair ratio is 1. Sentencing commission found the crackpowder disparity inconsistent with the 1986 acts concerns about penalizing serious drug traffickers more severely than streetlevel dealers. Regardless of changes in the federal law, a charge of crack or powder cocaine. The fair sentencing act of 2010 was an important first step in restoring sanity to our sentencing laws for crack cocaine, but theres more that needs to be done.
The effects of crack take hold in under a minute, peak in 35 minutes, and last 3060 minutes. The sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine attn. Cocaine is a hydrochloride salt in its powdered form, while crack cocaine is derived from powdered cocaine by combining it with water and another substance, usually baking soda sodium bicarbonate. At the time, possession of crack cocaine resulted in penalties 100 times higher than possession of an equal amount of the powdered form. Put in perspective, the maximum jail sentence for simple possession of any other drug, including powder cocaine. Crack powder sentencing disparity reduced by congress. But in reality, according to experts, crack cocaine and powder cocaine are essentially identical.
American drug laws make it pretty clear that our legal. For the past two decades, possession of five grams of. Drug sentencing and institutionalized discrimination. Jul 15, 2015 for her final paper, byrd wanted to write about the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentences and the disparate effect on african americans and hispanics, but she needed real. Before this law was passed, the united states had a 100to1 crack topowder cocaine sentencing disparity.
For reasons beyond the scope of this posting, certain stakeholders view this disparity as the product of systemic racism. Sentencing commission amendments to equalize the penalties for crack and powder cocaine from taking effect see congress nixes amendments to sentencing guidelines on cocaine, money laundering, 58 crl 1086, october 25, 1995. A 2015 study published in the journal drug and alcohol dependence examined the socioeconomic disparities among powder cocaine users and crack users. So, the federal law still imposes a different and harsher sentence for crack cocaine possession than it does for powder cocaine possession, but the disparity is not nearly as great as under the 1986 act. Since then the federal bureau of prisons began to have budget and overcrowding problems. For sentencing purposes, the 1980s federal laws treat as little as 5 grams of crack roughly the weight of two sugar cubes the same as 500 grams of powder cocaine. New drug law narrows crack, powder cocaine sentencing gap. Race and class penalties in crack cocaine sentencing by michael coyle overview after a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy. President obama signed the new sentencing law on august 3, 2010.
The 2010 act eliminated the fiveyear minimum sentence and increased the amount of crack necessary to result in sentencing from 100toone to 18toone. This disparity between crack and powder cocaine was driven by fear. Powder cocaine, the more expensive version of the drug, found. When cocaine is snorted, its effects occur in about 15 minutes.
Mandatory minimum sentencing policies and cocaine use in the u. May 25, 2011 congress addressed a historic wrong on wednesday afternoon, replacing it instead with a slightly lesser wrong, when the house voted to reduce the disparity in the sentencing of people caught with crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. In 2010 congress passed the fair sentencing act, which repealed the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession and reduced the sentencing disparity from 100. The new law significantly reduces the cocaine sentencing quantity disparity from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1 by raising the quantity of crack cocaine necessary to trigger the five and tenyear mandatory minimum sentences first set in 1986. Mar 05, 2015 the fair sentencing act of 2010 was an important first step in restoring sanity to our sentencing laws for crackcocaine, but theres more that needs to be done. Even though crack and powder cocaine are byproducts of the same drug, prior to the fair. The explosive popularity of crack cocaine was associated with its cheap price, which for the first time made cocaine available to a wider economic class. Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay sample. While a person found with five grams of crack cocaine faced a fiveyear mandatory minimum prison sentence. Aug 03, 2010 data show racial disparity in crack sentencing congress passed the fair sentencing act to make punishments for crack and cocaine more equal. Once the fair sentencing act was passed in 2010, however, this social disparity was slowly lessened. Whereas, proposals to remove the federal mandatory minimums for crack and powder cocaine, and to otherwise eliminate the disparity for crack and powder cocaine by sentencing crack in the same manner that powder cocaine is currently sentenced, would threaten efforts to investigate and prosecute significant and violent drug offenders that deal. View essay gen psy paper autosaved 2015 from cjad 410 at columbia college.
Thousands are stuck in prison just because of the date they were sentenced. The ussc also adopts the 100to1 ratio in the federal sentencing guidelines for crack offenses. Five grams of crack and 500 grams of powder cocaine now trigger a 5year mandatory minimum. Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay. Crack users are much more likely to experience arrest than powder cocaine users, and being poor is the true overwhelming correlate, not being black or a minority, says joseph j. A comprehensive examination of the 100to1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity under which distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a minimum 5year federal prisonsentence, while distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same 5year mandatory minimum sentence. The fair sentencing act amends existing laws by increasing the amounts of crack that trigger these penalties, from five grams to 28 grams for fiveyear minimum sentences and from 50 grams to 280 grams for tenyear minimum sentences. While the effect of such policies on racial disparities in incarceration is. August 2015 the fair sentencing act of 2010 fsa reduced the statutory penalties for crack cocaine offenses to produce an 18to1 cracktopowder drug. Despite the fact that the chemical structure of powder cocaine and crack cocaine is nearly identical, the punishment for crack possession or sales is far greater than that of cocaine. Lawmakers rushed to establish the disparity and stiff sentences for crack cocaine in 1986 when the growing hysteria around the drugs emergence in urban communities climaxed because of the death of a college basketball star whose overdose, officials believed, was caused by crack cocaine. Crack cocaine often nicknamed crack after the sound made during its manufacture is a lowerpurity form of freebase cocaine and contains sodium bicarbonate as impurity.
However, despite several attempts at reform, the fair sentencing act of 2010 only managed to reduce the disparity between mandatory sentencing for crack vs. Bookers bill would eliminate the crack cocaine sentencing disparity by reducing it from 18. Supreme court examines disparity in crack and powder cocaine. Fair sentencing act american civil liberties union. Some 2020 democratic candidate argue that the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, which now sits at 18to1. But its not a perfect resolution because it only reduces the current disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine from 100. Jan 31, 2018 thousands are stuck in prison just because of the date they were sentenced. Crackpowder sentencing disparity reduced by congress. The us government created a 100to1 minimum sentence disparity between. Gen psy paper autosaved 2015 racial disparity 1 racial. Supreme court examines disparity in crack and powder. After a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current. Data show racial disparity in crack sentencing congress passed the fair sentencing act to make punishments for crack and cocaine more equal. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing center.
The fair sentencing act reduced the massive disparity between sentences handed down to crack cocaine and powder. Despite harsher penalties for crack versus powder cocaine, crack use. Racial disparity 1 racial disparity in the federal prison system crack vs cocaine sentencing by. Sentencing guidelines, discusses how approaches of other. Crack cocaine became prevalent in the mid1980s and received massive media attention due in part to its exponential growth in the drug market. New legislation would erase crackpowder cocaine disparity. Dmichigan, recently contended that the new law will reduce sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100to. The excessively harsh sentencing laws for crack cocaine versus for. Apr 23, 2015 it is all too common these days to listen to news commentators discussing the disparity between federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
In the three decades prior to the passing of the fair sentencing act, those who were arrested for possessing crack cocaine faced much more severe penalties than those in possession of powder cocaine. Simple marijuana possession was the fourth most common cause of deportation for any offense in 20, and the most common cause of deportation for drug law violations. Congress addressed a historic wrong on wednesday afternoon, replacing it instead with a slightly lesser wrong, when the house voted to reduce the disparity in the sentencing of people caught with crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. On october 30, president clinton signed a bill that blocks the u. Jul 01, 2014 in 2010, president obama signed the fair sentencing act, which reduced the federal penalty ratios from 100. This leaves the remainder of the work to be done up to congress in correcting the unjust disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing. Aug 12, 2015 crack was an innercity drug, a streetcorner drug, a drug of gangs and guns that white america largely experienced from a distance.
Federal sentencing guidelines disparity in crack versus. How a first crack cocaine offense led to a life sentence. Crack was an innercity drug, a streetcorner drug, a drug of gangs and guns that white america largely experienced from a distance. Federal sentencing disparity, 20052012, examines patterns of federal sentencing disparity among white and black offenders, by sentence received, and looks at judicial variation in sentencing since booker vs. How mandatory minimums helped drive mass incarceration youtube.
The us sentencing commission provided this analogy in 1997 to support equalizing penalties for crack and powder cocaine. Regardless of changes in the federal law, a charge of crack or powder cocaine is a very serious charge. This report assesses the impact of the fsa on the federal criminal justice system. Congress did a serious injustice when it imposed much tougher penalties on defendants convicted of selling the crack form of cocaine the kind most often used in impoverished, minority. Crack users are much more likely to experience arrest than. For example, the possession of 2 ounces of crack cocaine carried a 10 year mandatory minimum jail sentence compared to 179 ounces of powder cocaine for the same penalty. The disparity between crack sentences and sentences for powdered cocaine has existed since the reagan era, when the united states experienced a supposed epidemic of crack addiction an epidemic that was exaggerated by the media. Under the 2010 law, the amount of crack that triggers the fiveyear minimum is 28 grams of crack or 500 grams of powder, and, for the tenyear minimum, 280 grams of crack and 5,000 of powder. Feb 19, 2015 in light of the current sentencing disparity18. Holly mitchells senate bill 1010, which would reduce the sentence for possession of crack cocaine for sale from 35 years to 24 years, thus matching the penalties for powder.
It is all too common these days to listen to news commentators discussing the disparity between federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Since the law went into effect, the ratio dropped to 18to1. Download 32page term paper on sentencing disparities between crack cocaine vs. A 2015 report by human rights watch found that deportations for drug possession offenses increased by 43% from 2007 to 2012. Clinton signs bill to disapprove of equalizing crack. Crack cocaine sentencing laws in the adaa also included a fiveyear mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of the drug. Nyu study identifies arrest risk disparity for cocaine use. Unjustified and unreasonable overview crack cocaine became prevalent in the mid1980s and received massive media attention due in part to the death of college basketball star len bias subsequently found to have used powder cocaine on the night of his death and not crack. One would think, based on the sentencing laws, that crack cocaine is a very different drug than powder cocaineand much worse. Study identifies arrest risk disparity for cocaine use date. The amount of powder cocaine necessary to trigger the sentence is still five kilos. August 2015 the fair sentencing act of 2010 fsa reduced the statutory penalties for crack cocaine offenses to produce an 18to1 crack topowder drug quantity ratio.
The next logical steps are to make the fsa retroactive, and to eradicate completely the disparity between powder and crack. The legislation also eliminates the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. Crack and cocaine are both drugs created from the coca plant but have a different level of refinement. After cocaine and baking soda are combined, the mixture is boiled, and a solid forms. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing.
Sep 03, 2015 how mandatory minimums helped drive mass incarceration. The sentencing disparity for dealing crack and powder cocaine was 100 to 1. Crack and cocaine may be nearly identical on a molecular level, but people who are charged with possession of just 1 gram of crack are given the same sentence as those found in possession of 18 grams of cocaine. Martin pepperdine university abstract in recent years policy attention regarding the crisis of the african american male has focused on a variety of areas in which african american males have suffered disproportionately from social ills. Crack cocaine sentencing rules hit 20 friday is the 20th anniversary of a law that created mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine crimes. Data show racial disparity in crack sentencing us news. Most importantly, the bill he signed on tuesday will eliminate the fiveyear mandatory minimum for firsttime possession of crack that compelled judges to send so many blacks to prison. Crackpowder sentencing disparity reduced by congress huffpost. Assistant majority leader dick durbin dil introduced the fair sentencing act of 2009, a narrowlytailored bill that would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and increase penalties for the worst offenders.
Bernie sanders called for the same in 2015, prompting his democratic presidential rival. We did our last update on president obamas campaign promise to eliminate the disparity in sentencing for crack and cocaine on july 14, 2010. First, while the bill reduces the ratio between crack and powder cocaine sentencing. Aug 05, 2010 most importantly, the bill he signed on tuesday will eliminate the fiveyear mandatory minimum for firsttime possession of crack that compelled judges to send so many blacks to prison.
This dramatic sentencing disparity exists despite the fact that the drugs are pharmacologically identical. Federal crack cocaine sentencing the sentencing project. Congress passed the fair sentencing act to make punishments for crack and cocaine more equal. Here are the sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine. Progressives argue for elimination of the sentencing disparity altogether and. President obama signed a new law at the white house today that will close the longdisputed gap in federal sentencing for crack vs. Congress is considering a bill to change drug laws that punish crack cocaine violations more severely than those for powder cocaine.