Tyler Lewis, civilrights.org
- Sen. Dick Durbin, D. Ill., introduced legislation today that would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, a disparity that has been widely considered to have a discriminatory effect on African Americans and low-income people.
Under current law, defendants convicted for possessing just five grams of crack cocaine – less than the weight of two sugar packets – are subject to a five-year mandatory minimum sentence. Yet, a defendant selling powder cocaine has to be caught selling 100 times – 500 grams – as much to get the same sentence.
The Fair Sentencing Act would raise the trigger for a five-year sentence for a crack cocaine conviction to 500 grams, the same amount that triggers a five-year sentence for a powder cocaine conviction.
