CRACK COCAINE PENALTY INEQUITY FINALLY REDUCED

It's taken many more years than it should have, but Congress has
finally reduced one of the worst inequities in American criminal
justice sentencing. For the past quarter-century, the federal
sentencing disparity for crack cocaine offenses were 100 times harsher
than those for powder cocaine. Thanks to the Fair Sentencing Act of
2010, those penalties will now be only 18 times harsher.

It's still not fair, and it's still not equal justice. But we'll take
it.

The bill, which will become law as soon as a supportive President
Obama signs it, eliminates a mandatory minimum sentence of five years
for simple possession of small amounts of crack cocaine.

This is a noteworthy achievement in and of itself - it's the first
time Congress has eliminated a mandatory minimum sentence since the
Nixon administration.

The bill also raises the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence from
possession of about 50 grams of crack to about 280 grams.

Compare that to powder cocaine - to receive a mandatory minimum of
five years in prison, an offender must be in possession of 500 grams
of cocaine.

The disparity matters because the crack sentencing laws overwhelmingly
affect African American defendants. According to 2007 data from the
U.S. Sentencing Commission, African Americans account for 82.7 percent
of crack cocaine convictions. Meanwhile, white and Hispanic defendants
account for 71.4 percent of powder cocaine convictions. Crack and
powder cocaine are the same drug. It's inhumane to treat one group of
offenders differently than another.

Thankfully, Washington is on the slow, proper path to changing that
disparity.

We hope lawmakers in the state of California are paying attention.
Shamefully, California is one of the few states that has a sentencing
disparity between crack and powder cocaine. We, too, need to equalize
justice.

And considering the outlandish size of our prison population, we could
save money in the bargain. All we need is a legislature in Sacramento
with the same courage as the one in Washington. Legislators, it's time
to take a stand.