Drug Sentencing Disparities

Congress reduces drug sentence gap, By Erik Eckholm, July 28, 2010, New York Times: “Congress passed a bill on Wednesday that would reduce the disparities between mandatory sentences for crack and powdered cocaine violations, a step toward ending what legal experts say have been unfairly harsh punishments imposed mainly on blacks. The bill, which passed the Senate in March, was adopted by the House of Representatives in a voice vote and now goes to the President for signature. Administration officials have described the sentencing disparity as ‘fundamentally unfair,’ and Mr. Obama said during the 2008 campaign that it ‘disproportionately filled our prisons with young black and Latino drug users…'”