Congress' action is a step in the right direction
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share thisCongress took a rare step for justice Wednesday. The House approved a bill to lessen the vast disparity between sentences for possession of powder cocaine and the hardened form known as crack.
Current sentencing law heavily penalizes those convicted of crack possession, even though there is negligible pharmacological difference between that form of cocaine and powder. A person convicted of possessing five grams of crack cocaine receives a mandatory five-year prison sentence under federal law, a term that would not apply to someone possessing less than 500 grams of powder cocaine.
That 100-to-1 ratio inherently is unfair, all the more so because of the cultural patterns of crack and powder cocaine use. Crack predominantly has been a pox on poor and minority urban communities, while the powder form has been more predominant among more affluent white users. African-Americans comprise a substantial majority of those convicted of crack use, and the sentencing disparity ensures that they receive much longer sentences, even for first offenses, than people convicted of possessing comparable amounts of powder.
The new bill, which also has passed the Senate, reduces the sentencing disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. And it repeals a mandatory five-year sentence for possession of just five grams of crack - the first time in nearly 40 years that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum sentence.
Under the new standard, possession of 500 grams of powder still would trigger a mandatory five-year sentence, but possession of 28 grams of crack, rather than five, would result in that term.
That standard is fairer than the current one but it still is unfair. There should be parity in cocaine-related sentencing, regardless of the form of the drug. And, unfortunately, the bill does not apply the standard retroactively to establish remedial justice for those already sentenced under the draconian 100-to-1 ratio.
The new ratio will apply to about 3,000 cases a year, and is expected to save about $47 million in incarceration costs over five years.
Congress deserves credit for narrowing the gap. Now it should apply that justice retroactively and establish true justice by equalizing penalties for possessing two forms of the same drug.
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