Justice Department Looking at Making Crack Sentencing Reduction retroactive

[lawrocket 3]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cocaine_sentencing_2

About 20,000 convicts in jail for drug offenses - mainly crack may be released if this goes through.

It's a good thing to see vastly unequal treatment being reversed, and I think yet another important step in putting an end to this ridiculous war on drugs.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[mnealtx 0]

Is there any evidence that Whites got lesser sentences for the same crack cocaine offense than Blacks? I'd give it more credence for "unequal treatment" if that was mentioned.

With the above said, I feel that any 'add-on' sentences are bullshit. If they committed the crime, punish them for the crime they committed. If you want to 'add-on' something, then you'd better have a charge and the evidence to convict against that charge.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[okalb 79]

Quote

Is there any evidence that Whites got lesser sentences for the same crack cocaine offense than Blacks? I'd give it more credence for "unequal treatment" if that was mentioned.

I don't think that whites got lesser sentences than blacks for the same offense, but in many states the penalties for Crack are much stiffer than those for cocaine. The argument has been that cocaine is much more expensive and generally a "white" drug whereas crack is cheap and generally a "black" drug. Not saying I agree totally as there are plenty of whites who smoke crack too. But I have heard that argument made many times.

Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

[mnealtx 0]

As have I - that's why I asked the question.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[warpedskydiver 0]

I would like to see many laws done away with, and until that happens I would think that equal sentencing is paramount, no matter what the socio-economic, or racial background of ther offender may be.

A good case in point is illegal firearms usage and possession.

A good amount of those who break these laws are not prosecuted very hard, and others are exceedingly sentenced.

To say a person is from a disadvantaged environment, and use that as a basis of not prosecuting with the same veracity as would be done for the class of people "that knew better" is an atrocity.

[kallend 1,647]

Quote

I would like to see many laws done away with, and until that happens I would think that equal sentencing is paramount, no matter what the socio-economic, or racial background of ther offender may be.

A good case in point is illegal firearms usage and possession.

A good amount of those who break these laws are not prosecuted very hard, and others are exceedingly sentenced.

To say a person is from a disadvantaged environment, and use that as a basis of not prosecuting with the same veracity as would be done for the class of people "that knew better" is an atrocity.

Well, it seems to be the other way around in this case. Possessing X gms of cocaine in powder form (the "knew better" choice) gets a reduced sentence compared to possessing X gms of cocaine in crack form (the method of choice of the "disadvantaged").

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[nathaniel 0]

Quote

To say a person is from a disadvantaged environment, and use that as a basis of not prosecuting with the same veracity as would be done for the class of people "that knew better" is an atrocity.

To continue with this line of argument, devil's advocacy, part of the reason for the disparity between cocaine vs crack sentencing is that crack does seem to be more destructive than cocaine in how it affects inner cities.

Cocaine had been around for ~100 years but the emergence of the crack trade yet accelerated the problems of addiction in our inner cities.

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[lawrocket 3]

Quote

To continue with this line of argument, devil's advocacy, part of the reason for the disparity between cocaine vs crack sentencing is that crack does seem to be more destructive than cocaine in how it affects inner cities.

Cocaine had been around for ~100 years but the emergence of the crack trade yet accelerated the problems of addiction in our inner cities.

Yes. Crack caused a bigger problem because it was cheap and thus more people could afford more of it.

Check out what Cocaine did to the society. In 1978 and 1979, the entire US currency surplus was attributed to banks in Miami. In 1978, Miami banks took in $2.4 billion more in cash than they paid out. It was $4.5 billion by 1980.

See, people could buy powder and make a huge profit by cooking it into crack via high volume sales.

Because of the volume of crack sales, the crack sellers were more of a turf oriented business. With the "turf" came "turf wars" and the violence. This was in the lower-class neighborhoods.

So what do we do? Declare war on crack to stem the violence. Make the penalties sever for possession of even miniscule amounts of crack. The powder coke? Well, that's not a problem, I guess, when compared to crack. (It's kinda like saying "yellowcake" is not a problem, nukes are).

Bill Bennett - the first drug czar, then engaged in a brilliant political maneuver. Instead of taking on the problem of the supply chain, he focused on a side issue (guns) to crack down on violence. Then, the crack users slowly die from OD's, etc., and Bennett claims success.

So, as opposed to going after the cocaine (where the biggest effect can be made) at the sources, they spread out and went after the end users. Putting them in jail for a long time. The small-time crack user was facing the same jailtime as a lower-level cocaine distributor.

This is the unfairness. The cocaine user not gettign that same sentence as the crack user. And it comes down to sentencing the lower-class more severely than the middle class. After all, we can't have our bankers and CEO's and lawyers other white collar guys rotting in jail just because they like to use a little nose candy every now and then.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[skycop 0]

Sorry man,
Have to disagree with you on this one. Users vs. dealers when it comes to crack offenses are two different animals.
I see the results of crack use and the destruction it causes on a DAILY basis. This same type of enforcement is being used on meth as well, and their is no "racial" component when it comes to meth.
I agree the "war on drugs" needs some overhaul, but crack and meth are the poster children of why we NEED a war on drugs.

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[lawrocket 3]

I've seen the damage it does, too. But the differences in sentencing between cocaine and crack go beyond any rational basis, in my opinion.

My wife is hotter than your wife.