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The country is undoubtedly moving towards a historic consensus: Unfair sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenders have got to stop. The Supreme Court ruled decisively yesterday that judges are free to disagree with sentencing guidelines and in so doing, may note their opposition to the unjustifiably disparate treatments of powder and crack cocaine. The Sentencing Commission today echoed that sentiment, making retroactive the recent reduction of its sentencing recommendations and granting hope to thousands of prisoners disproportionately targeted by inflated crack penalties.
In a unanimous voice, the Commission today opened the door to criminal and racial justice. This measure makes a reported 19,500 – mostly Black – prisoners eligible for an average sentence reduction of two years. Every individual release or reduction is subject to judicial review and the process will be staggered over 30 years – but $1 billion in prison costs will be spared and around 2,500 prisoners have served more than their fair share and will be eligible for release in the next year. I call on the courts to move swiftly with these requests and unify families left in shambles due to excessively punitive crack laws.
The Commission and the Court have done all they can. Now, it's our turn. The impetus falls on Congress to end the sentencing inequity that slaps the same 5-year sentence for possessing 500 grams of powder as it does for 5 grams of crack. That's a 100-to-1 disparity – and an average difference of 40 months in jail time – for two drugs experts say have no significant differences. Well, here's one significant difference: Over 80 percent of sentenced crack offenders are Black. Targeted by law enforcement, Blacks account for 38 percent of drug arrests and 59 percent of convictions, although they are only 13 percent of drug users.
No one condones the suffering inflicted on society by drug abuse and crime, nor should we accept the needless devastation caused by disproportionately harsh drug laws. The numbers paint a grim picture: 500,000 of this country's 2.2 million prisoners are locked up for drug crimes, the majority on petty charges with no history of violence or high-level drug dealing.
Fair drug sentencing would restore confidence in the criminal justice system and do away with the disparity that has left children fatherless and families broken. We cannot shortchange this, or future, generations and threaten our competitive standing in the world by ignoring failing schools, sky-high dropout rates, an unskilled workforce, poverty, and hopelessness. We should not perpetuate injustice. Better yet, we simply cannot afford to.
This piece was published in New York's Amsterdam News on December 13, 2007
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