“What we have is progress, it’s not justice,” said Jennifer Bellamy, criminal justice legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
“There still is no reason to say that crack and cocaine are different,” Bellamy told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2009, a person convicted of crack possession gets the same mandatory jail sentence as someone with 100 times the quantity of powder cocaine. Because crack is prevalent in black communities, this 100-to-one ratio has sent large numbers of black men to jail for longer periods.
Under the measure, approved by a voice vote, the ratio would be reduced to 18-to-one.
The unanimous approval by the Senate shows that there is momentum for Congress to address the disparities, Bellamy said. “It is encouraging during these partisan times to get bipartisan support for legislation."
The next hurdle is for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass companion legislation.
ACLU will lobby House members to completely remove the disparities between sentences for crack and for powder cocaine, Bellamy said.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin worked out the legislation with Senate Judiciary Republicans.
Durbin said he initially wanted a one-to-one ratio on the sentencing, but he considered the bipartisan legislation a good compromise.
Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said his group had been working two decades to eliminate the sentencing disparity and was disappointed that was not accomplished in the bill. He said the bill "represents progress but not the end of the fight."
The Drug Policy Alliance also found the bill to be lacking for the same reason.
"Today is a bittersweet day," said Jasmine L. Tyler of the Drug Policy Alliance. By not eliminating the disparity, Tyler said in a statement, the Senate "has proven how difficult it is to ensure racial justice, even in 2010."
Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the bill is not perfect, but it moves one step closer to what the sentencing should be.
“The racial imbalance that has resulted from the cocaine sentencing disparity disparages the Constitution’s promise of equal treatment for all Americans,” said Leahy. “Although this bill is not perfect, and it is not the bill we introduced in order to correct these inequalities, I believe the Fair Sentencing Act moves us one step closer to reaching the important goal of equal justice for all.”
He urged the House to act on its companion legislation so that President Barack Obama can sign it into law.
"If this bill is enacted into law, it will immediately ensure that every year, thousands of people are treated more fairly in our criminal justice system," Durbin said.
He said the bill also would mark the first time since 1970 that Congress has repealed a mandatory minimum sentence.
Durbin said that in 1986, when he was a member of the House, he supported creation of this 100-to-one ratio. "Crack cocaine had just appeared on the scene, and it scared us because it was cheap, addictive. We thought it was more dangerous than many narcotics."
But he cited figures saying that while blacks make up 30 percent of crack users, they comprise more than 80 percent of those convicted of federal crack offenses. "Law enforcement experts say that the crack-powder disparity undermines trust in the criminal justice system, especially in the African-American community," he said.
Under the bill, possession of 28 grams of crack would trigger the five-year mandatory sentence. It also increases fines for drug traffickers.
Daryl K. Washington, founder of BlackLegalIssues.com and the Unequal Justice Legal Defense & Educational Fund, said for any sentencing to be fair, there must be a one-to-one ratio with sentences for cocaine and crack possession. But for now, he said, the legislation with the 18-to-one ratio is about as far as lawmakers will go right now.
“The politicians understand that the disparity exists,” Washington said. “I believe they will do more about it in the future.”
source:blackamericaweb.com
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