DOJ and Legal Groups Seek Law Eliminating Cocaine Sentencing Disparities
Representatives of the Judicial Conference of the United States and the American Bar Association joined federal officials today in calling for Congress to enact legislation to reduce sentencing disparities between crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving powder cocaine.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, a federal district court judge representing of the Judicial Conference of the United States called the differing sentences “a specter that has haunted the federal criminal justice system for more than 20 years,” reports a U.S. Courts press release.
Judge Reggie Walton of the District of Columbia told the subcommittee that it takes 100 times as much powder cocaine to trigger the same five- to 10-year sentences much more frequently imposed on those found guilty of crack offenses, the release notes. He is a member of Judicial Conference Criminal Law Committee.
In written testimony to the subcommittee, the American Bar Association also calls for the elimination of the sentencing disparity in written testimony, the ABA notes in an e-mailed press release today.
The ABA testimony praised the subcommittee hearing as an “an important step toward ending once and for all this enduring and glaring inequity,” saying that the striking difference in sentences “is simply wrong, and it is now time to eliminate it.”
The elimination of cocaine sentencing disparities is supported by the Obama administration, and a high-level Department of Justice official testified today that the current situation is fundamentally unfair, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“The administration believes Congress’s goal should be to completely eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine,” testified Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. He oversees the DOJ’s criminal division.
Critics have long argued that the differing sentences more harshly impact defendants in black communities where crack cocaine is prevalent, the newspaper notes.
Additional coverage:
The Caucus (New York Times): “Justice Dept. Joins Calls for Drug Sentencing Reform”
Inquirer (opinion): “Editorial: Time to end the crack disparity”
ABAJournal.com (2008): “100s of Court Orders in 2 Days Under New Crack Sentence Rules”
