Issues in Criminal Justice (JF)
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The U.S. Congress has passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which will reduce the disparity between crack- and powder-cocaine sentencing. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that shorter periods of incarceration will save the federal prison system $42 million during the course of five years.
“Despite the substantial cost to taxpayers and society, the crack-powder ratio has resulted in no real impact on the cocaine trade—and has diverted precious federal resources from stopping drug kingpins to chasing after low-level, local offenders,” said Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship.
Under current law, a person convicted of crack cocaine possession receives the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The Fair Sentencing Act will dramatically reduce that ratio to about 18-1. Made statutory in 1986, the disparity was based largely on the assertion that crack cocaine is more addictive than powder cocaine and causes violent behavior. More recent scientific evidence and U.S. Sentencing Commission analysis, however, have shown these assertions to be exaggerated and even false.
The disparity has resulted in a disproportionate number of black Americans being sentenced under the mandatory-minimum law and has sent the U.S. prison population soaring. Although the intent was not to single out one racial demographic, the impact of these laws amounted to discrimination.
“Our federal laws should reflect our shared values, such as liberty, equality and compassion,” said Nolan. “Enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act will advance all of these values.”
Politicians and sentencing commissions have acknowledged the unfairness of the system for years, but feared looking soft on crime. Now, the bill has garnered bipartisan support from Republican and conservative leaders such as Asa Hutchinson, former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union, as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
It is the first time in 40 years that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum sentence. The legislation will now go to President Obama for his signature.
To read the final bill, click here.
To find out more about criminal justice reforms, visit Justice Fellowship’s “Key Issues” resource pages. |
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