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Eliminate disparity in sentencing for crack and cocaine
"Will work in a bipartisan way to eliminate disparities" between mandatory sentences for trafficking crack cocaine versus powder cocaine, which he believes has disproportionately filled our prison with young black and Latino drug users. "They will also repeal the mandatory minimum sentence for firsttime offenders convicted of simple possession of crack, as crack is the only drug that a non-violent first-time offender can receive a mandatory minimum sentence for possessing."
Sources: "Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Creating Equal Opportunity and Justice for All"
Subjects: Civil Rights, Crime, Diversity
Justice Department official testifies on crack cocaine sentencing
Updated: Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 | By Angie Drobnic Holan
The administration signaled its support for changing the sentencing rules for crack cocaine when an official with the U.S. Justice Department testified before Congress on April 29, 2009.
Lanny Breuer, an Obama appointee and an assistant attorney general with the Justice Department, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the administration supported changes to the sentencing laws.
"Since the United States Sentencing Commission first reported 15 years ago on the differences in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine, a consensus has developed that the federal cocaine sentencing laws should be reassessed," Breuer said in prepared testimony. "Indeed, over the past 15 years, our understanding of crack and powder cocaine, their effects on the community, and the public safety imperatives surrounding all drug trafficking has evolved. That refined understanding, coupled with the need to ensure fundamental fairness in our sentencing laws, policy, and practice, necessitates a change. We think this change should be addressed in this Congress, and we look forward to working with you and other Members of Congress over the coming months to address the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine."
Breuer's comments demonstrate a public commitment on behalf of the administration, so we move this promise to In the Works.
Sources:
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee,
"
Restoring Fairness to Federal Sentencing: Addressing the Crack-Powder Disparity
," (hearing) April 29, 2009
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee,
testimony of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer
, April 29, 2009
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