Matt Collins
07-28-2010, 12:52 PM
Congress is reducing sentencing differences between crack and powder cocaine convictions that sent tens of thousands of blacks to prison while often letting whites skate for possessing the same amount of the drug in powder form.
Lawmakers created the disparity 24 years ago when crack appeared on the scene as a cheap but addictive drug.
The House planned to vote Wednesday on the measure that would change the 1986 law under which a person convicted of crack cocaine possession gets the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The legislation would reduce that ratio to about 18-1.
The Senate has passed the legislation. House approval would send it to President Barack Obama.
"There is no law enforcement or sentencing rationale for the current disparity between crack and cocaine powder offenses," Attorney General Eric Holder said when the Senate acted in March.
SOURCE:
http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Congress-Cocaine/2010/07/28/id/365910
Lawmakers created the disparity 24 years ago when crack appeared on the scene as a cheap but addictive drug.
The House planned to vote Wednesday on the measure that would change the 1986 law under which a person convicted of crack cocaine possession gets the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The legislation would reduce that ratio to about 18-1.
The Senate has passed the legislation. House approval would send it to President Barack Obama.
"There is no law enforcement or sentencing rationale for the current disparity between crack and cocaine powder offenses," Attorney General Eric Holder said when the Senate acted in March.
SOURCE:
http://www.newsmax.com/US/US-Congress-Cocaine/2010/07/28/id/365910