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"In what has become a rare event in Washington these days, a strongly bipartisan bill made its way to the president's desk for his signature on Tuesday. The Fair Sentencing Act, sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (R-Ill.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), reduces the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine possession. Under the previous, 25-year-old law, possession of five grams of crack resulted in a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years. The same sentence applied to those convicted of trafficking 500 grams of powder cocaine -- a 100-to-1 disparity. Under the new law, the disparity is reduced to 18-1 as the five-year mandatory sentence will now apply to those caught with 28 grams -- or one ounce -- of crack. (The regulations on powder cocaine possession will not change.)
According to the Washington Post, "crack offenders once faced a 10-year mandatory minimum for carrying 10 grams of the drug; the same penalty would not kick in for a powder-cocaine suspect unless caught with 1,000 grams." Under the new law, a 10-year prison term would be handed down for possession of 280 grams of crack or more. The law also repeals the five-year mandatory minimum for first-time possession of crack. This is the first time since the Nixon administration that Congress has repealed a mandatory sentencing law.
The previous sentencing guidelines, enacted during the peak of the crack boom in the mid-1980s, were widely recognized as unfairly targeting African-Americans; 81 percent of those convicted for crack possession are black, while whites and Hispanics were more often found in possession of powder cocaine.
Though Durbin initially wanted to end the disparity completely, in order to gain passage a compromise was made to allay the concerns of those who said crack has a more immediately addictive effect and more quickly devastates the user physically than does powder cocaine. Higher levels of violent crime are also associated with crack abuse."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/03/obama-signs-fair-sentencing-act-reducing-disparity-in-cocaine-s/
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