The federal government sought to crack down on the problem by implementing severe prison sentences for those people caught dealing crack cocaine. The law also contained minimum sentences and other disparities between the two forms of the drug. Powder and crack cocaine differ in appearance, side effects, duration of effects, demographics and incarceration rates. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing center. Fair sentencing act american civil liberties union. Federal sentencing guidelines disparity in crack versus. Some 2020 democratic candidate argue that the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, which now sits at 18to1, should be eliminated entirely. Definition of crack cocaine, race, and the war on drugs in the legal dictionary by free online english dictionary and encyclopedia. Crack, which is derived from powdered cocaine, is a rocklike form of cocaine that can be smoked to achieve a high. Regardless of changes in the federal law, a charge of crack or powder cocaine is a very serious charge. Keith ellison spent 16 years as a trial lawyer dealing with hundreds of cases involving cocaine arrests. Data show racial disparity in crack sentencing us news. In 2010 congress passed the fair sentencing act, which repealed the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession and reduced the sentencing disparity from 100.
Powder cocaine use is more evenly spread among ethnic backgrounds, and more white americans have tried powder cocaine than black americans. The demographic profile of cocaine offenders must be further examined to analyze any disparity in sentencing. The 1986 law created a 100 to 1 disparity between the sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine. In 2010, congress passed the fair sentencing act fsa, which reduced the sentencing disparity between offenses for crack and powder cocaine from 100. Powder cocaine history and background college basketball star len bias died of a powder cocaine overdose while celebrating his number one draft pick in the 1986 nba draft. Crack and cocaine are both drugs created from the coca plant but have a different level of refinement. What is the difference between crack and powder cocaine in. The adaa created a 100toone ratio between the quantity of crack versus powder cocaine needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentencing. Sep 03, 2015 and a central feature of this framework was the now infamous minimum sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine violations.
The 2010 act eliminated the fiveyear minimum sentence and increased the amount of crack necessary to result in sentencing from 100toone to 18toone. Sentencing commissions recommendation to reduce the penalties for crack cocaine offenses from the powder crack cocaine ratio of 100 to 1, to 5 to 1. Lawmakers rushed to establish the disparity and stiff sentences for crack cocaine in. A 2010 federal law rectified some, though not all, of the sentencing disparities. Sentencing guidelines show that 500 grams of powdered cocaine will put you away for the minimum of five years, where only 5 grams of crack cocaine can give you the same amount of years. After president obama signed off on new legislation to reduce the sentencing disparity between people caught with crack cocaine and those caught with powder cocaine, the minnesota democrat spoke to huffpost about what it. It is all too common these days to listen to news commentators discussing the disparity between federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. What does crack cocaine, race, and the war on drugs mean in law. Both crack and powder cocaine produce similar effects. Since the law went into effect, the ratio dropped to 18to1.
Inherent in the law is the infamous 100to1 disparity, whereas trafficking in 5 grams of crack cocaine draws a fiveyear prison sentence, while it takes 500 grams of powder cocaine to land. The manual of adolescent substance abuse treatment calls it the most addictive form of cocaine. Despite these differences, both drugs can have devastating effects on a persons health. In the 1980s, crack use created an epidemic that affected thousands of people in poor urban communities in the united states. Other issues may actually affect disparity more than someones race or ethnicity. The us sentencing commission provided this analogy in 1997 to support equalizing penalties for crack and powder cocaine. Cocaine is a hydrochloride salt in its powdered form, while crack cocaine is derived from powdered cocaine by combining it with water and another substance, usually baking soda sodium bicarbonate. Crack cocaine often nicknamed crack after the sound made during its manufacture is a lowerpurity form of freebase cocaine and contains sodium bicarbonate as impurity. Once the fair sentencing act was passed in 2010, however, this social disparity was slowly lessened.
Crack cocaine, also known simply as crack or rock, is a free base form of cocaine that can be smoked. October 08, 20 criminal law and criminology 4 comments 3 min read. Now, the ten year sentence is triggered by 280 grams of crack instead of 50. The difference between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Congress compounded the inequity by making crack cocaine the only drug that carries a mandatory minimum sentence for possession, even for firsttime offenders. The drug causes short but intense euphoric effects. Crack cocaine is different from powder cocaine in that it is processed to make a rock crystal, then heated to produce vapors, which are smoked. The sentencing disparity between convictions for crack cocaine and powder cocaine is discriminatory toward africanamericans. The precise terms of the legislation that would address the discrepancy were somewhat more difficult to devise. The sentencing disparity for dealing crack and powder cocaine was 100 to 1. In the mid 80s, congress passed the antidrug abuse act of 1986. Since then the federal bureau of prisons began to have budget and overcrowding problems. Supreme court examines disparity in crack and powder. While the effect of such policies on racial disparities in incarceration is.
Similarly, those carrying ten grams of crack cocaine faced a. Whereas, proposals to remove the federal mandatory minimums for crack and powder cocaine, and to otherwise eliminate the disparity for crack and powder cocaine by sentencing crack in the same manner that powder cocaine is currently sentenced, would threaten efforts to investigate and prosecute significant and violent drug offenders that deal. The disparity is highly controversial and often attributed to racial and economic bias rather than the relative harm of crack versus cocaine. The us government created a 100to1 minimum sentence. Download page term paper on disparity in sentencing for crack vs. Addressing the sentencing disparity of crack cocaine vs. Activists argue that the current rules are too harsh. Race and class penalties in crack cocaine sentencing by michael coyle overview after a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy. It also ignored the clinton administrations proposal to reduce the ratio to 10 to 1. This process is frequently done with baking soda sodium bicarbonate, water, and a spoon. The figures for the 6,020 powder cocaine cases are far less skewed. Under federal sentencing guidelines, a smalltime crack retailer caught selling 5 grams of crack cocaine receives the same prison sentence as a largescale powder cocaine dealer convicted of distributing 500g rams of powder cocaine. Cocaine is typically snorted, and crack is typically smoked.
However, blacks who did use either powder cocaine or crack tended to use at. Meaning of crack cocaine, race, and the war on drugs as a legal term. Crack and cocaine also differ in the manner in which they are used. Crack is essentially powder cocaine mixed with water and baking soda which is dried into a solid mass. Congress is considering a bill to change drug laws that punish crack cocaine violations more severely than those for powder cocaine. This imbalance means that 28 grams of crack will receive the same sentence as 500 grams of powdered cocaine. Similarly, those carrying ten grams of crack cocaine. The commission establishes sentencing policies and practices for the federal courts. Whereas, the fiveyear federal mandatory minimum sentencing amount for cocaine base hereinafter crack is five grams and the corresponding amount for cocaine hydrochloride hereinafter powder cocaine is 500 gms. New rules slashing crack cocaine sentences go into effect cnn.
Cocaine is derived from the coca plant, which is indigenous to south america. The issues raised in the appeal will be discussed in future blogs as will the united states supreme courts recent decision in kimbrough v united. Aug 03, 2010 data show racial disparity in crack sentencing. In spite of arguments upholding sentencing differences between crack and powdercocaine, proponents against such disparities need only to point at the laws function, that is, the social discrimination intrinsic within its application.
A comprehensive examination of the 100to1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing disparity under which distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a minimum 5year federal prisonsentence, while distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same 5year mandatory minimum sentence. The punishment difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine exposes an unjust feature in the american justice system, a system that was built to be the epitome of justice. This disparity between crack and powder cocaine was driven by fear, instead of by research, of the intensity and perceived dangers of crack. Before this law was passed, the united states had a 100to1 crack to powder cocaine sentencing disparity. Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay sample. Seeking rehab for cocaine or crack addiction is an important step toward achieving sobriety. While they are both different chemical forms of cocaine, they differ in how they are made, how they are abused, their cost, dangers, effects, and more.
Crack and cocaine powder sentencing disparities essay. Despite harsher penalties for crack versus powder cocaine, crack use declined less than powder cocaine and even less than drugs not included in sentencing. Nyu study identifies arrest risk disparity for cocaine use socioeconomically disadvantaged adults are more likely to use crack over powder cocaine, and are thus more likely to be subject to arrest. The legislation also eliminates the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. Another difference between crack and cocaine relates to the high produced. To get a comparable sentence, a dealer selling powdered cocaine would have to. Why are crack cocaine sentences longer than those for. We define cocaine base as any freebase or crack cocaine use within the. Dec 06, 2010 im working on a paper that deals with the disparity of crack vs. There is also, however, some evidence that race does not play a large part in sentencing disparity where crack vs. Crack cocaine, race, and the war on drugs legal definition. Case coincides with congressional push to repeal racially discriminatory sentencing scheme. Reducing the crackpowder cocaine disparity drug war facts. At the time, possession of crack cocaine resulted in penalties 100 times higher than possession of an equal amount of the powdered form.
Prior to the enactment of the fsa, it took 100 times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine to receive the same five, 10, or 20year mandatory minimum prison term. In response, the antidrug abuse act of 1986 included a provision that created the disparity between federal penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses, imposing the same penalties for the possession of an amount of crack cocaine as for 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. After a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy have recently emerged. For example, the possession of 2 ounces of crack cocaine carried a 10 year mandatory minimum jail sentence compared to 179 ounces of powder cocaine for the same penalty. Cocaine is generally found in white powder form, and crack is found in a rock form that is generally white, cream, tan, or light brown. Laws that were supposed to focus federal efforts on locking up drug kingpins. Some 2020 democratic candidate argue that the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, which now sits at 18to1.
Crack is cheaper, so its found in low income communities more than pure powder cocaine. Crack cocaine sentences have long been much more harsh than those for powder cocaine. Powder cocaine after a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy have recently emerged. For reasons beyond the scope of this posting, certain stakeholders view this disparity as the product of systemic racism. This dramatic sentencing disparity exists despite the fact that the drugs are pharmacologically identical. When someone smokes crack cocaine, the effects are felt almost immediately and can last for five to 10 minutes. Federal policy is responsible for this disparity, the antidrug abuse act of 1986 and public law 10438 federal sentencing guidelines, amendment, disapproval being the most significant contributors. Crack cocaine and powder cocaine are sometimes referred to in research and other outlets simply as cocaine, but there is a big difference between the two. Spohn 20 examined racial disparities in sentences from. Nov 01, 2011 many inmates are being released starting tuesday, thanks to changes easing the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences. Act in 1970, which defined modern drug regulation musto, 1999. The disparity started in the 1980s, when crack cocaine started to ravish urban black communities in america.
Crack and powder cocaine have similar pharmacological and physiological effects on the body, as major studies have shown us. This report addresses disparities in cocaine sentencing in states and documents efforts at the federal and state level to correct these injustices. Disparity in sentencing for crack vs powder cocaine. Feb 19, 2015 in light of the current sentencing disparity18. Sentencing commission calling for congress to change the crack cocaine law. Under what is commonly referred to as the 100to1 cocaine sentencing disparity, it takes one hundred times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine.
This disparity between crack and powder cocaine was driven by fear, instead of by research, of the intensity and perceived dangers of crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is frequently purchased already in rock form, although it is not uncommon for some users to wash up or cook powder cocaine into crack themselves. Mandatory minimum sentencing policies and cocaine use in the u. So, the federal law still imposes a different and harsher sentence for crack cocaine possession than it does for powder cocaine possession, but the disparity is not nearly as great as under the 1986 act. The sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine attn. The new law significantly reduces the cocaine sentencing quantity disparity from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1 by raising the quantity of crack cocaine necessary to trigger the five and tenyear mandatory minimum sentences first set in 1986. Crack cocaine is one of the forms of cocaine base, which is produced from powder cocaine and is smoked. The fsa changed this socalled 100toone disparity to a disparity of 18toone.
Nov 15, 2007 congress did a serious injustice when it imposed much tougher penalties on defendants convicted of selling the crack form of cocaine the kind most often used in impoverished, minority. Assistant majority leader dick durbin dil introduced the fair sentencing act of 2009, a narrowlytailored bill that would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and increase penalties for the worst offenders. How mandatory minimums helped drive mass incarceration youtube. After cocaine and baking soda are combined, the mixture is boiled, and a solid forms. Congress compounded the inequity by making crack cocaine the only drug. Famm supported that reform, the fair sentencing act fsa. Under what is commonly referred to as the 100to1 cocaine sentencing disparity, it takes one hundred times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine to trigger the federal mandatory minimums. Because crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug, there should not be any disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses the only truly fair ratio is 1. Chemically purified, very potent cocaine in pellet form that is smoked through a glass pipe and is considered highly and rapidly addictive.
The amount of powder cocaine necessary to trigger the sentence is still five kilos. Mar 31, 2020 sentencing disparities between crack cocaine vs. The main difference is the rate at which the high is felt and how long it lasts. Cracking the racial disparity for cocaine sentencing. These include legislation introduced in congress and a series of hearings resulting in recommendations by the united states sentencing. What is the chemical difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. While they are both different chemical forms of cocaine, they differ in how they are made, how they are abused, their cost, dangers. Crack cocaine definition of crack cocaine by the free. Aug 03, 2010 support for reducing the disparity with powder cocaine offenders increased with reports beginning in 2002 by the u. Federal crack cocaine sentencing the sentencing project.
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