Although President Obama signed into the law the Fair Sentencing Act last year, 13 states still sentence those convicted of an offense involving crack cocaine more harshly than those convicted of an offense involving crack cocaine. In Missouri, someone convicted of selling six grams of cocaine faces the same ten year sentence as someone convicted of selling 75 times more powdered cocaine.
Unfortunately, the sentencing disparity in Missouri is not an anomaly. In Oklahoma, selling five grams of crack will get you the same sentence as if you sold 28 grams of the powdered type. The ratio in Ohio is 10-1. The outcome of these disparities means that African-Americans, are being sentenced to harsher sentences than there white counterparts, since crack cocaine is sold mainly in African-American communities. In most cases, overcrowded prisons have a direct correlation with crack cocaine convictions.
In 2005, Connecticut, which had a disparity rate between crack cocaine and powder cocaine of 56.7 - 1, changed its laws regarding crack cocaine. Even earlier, in 2003, Iowa changed its disparity rate from 100 - 1, to 10 - 1. In 2005 and 2010, South Carolina changed laws that were both complex and disparate.
In their new report, Nicole D. Porter and Valerie Wright, Ph.D, review the policies of the states that have failed to rectify the disparities, and detail how some states recognized that crack cocaine laws were unfair, and harmed African-American communities, as well as strained state correction budgets.
While some were thrilled when Obama passed the Fair Sentencing Act for federal crack cocaine offenses, residents of the 13 states that have not yet changed their laws are mobilizing to bring about reform. Some fear that the subject of crack cocaine is getting old, but for those in prison, and their loved ones at home, the unfairness of the laws keeps the cause alive. Cracked Justice suggests eliminating crack and powder cocaine disparities, increasing trigger quantities for non-violent drug offenders, and ending mandatory minimums for low-level drug offenses.
To view full report click here to go to website
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