CRACK COCAINE OFFENDERS RECEIVE UNEQUAL JUSTICE

Equal justice under the law still remains elusive for 20,000 people
serving federal sentences for crack cocaine, despite the U.S.
Sentencing Commission's long-awaited reform of federal sentencing
guidelines for crack, which became effective Nov. 1.

These prisoners are serving sentences so harsh that they will no
longer be imposed on future defendants, but they are ineligible for
relief because the new guideline is not yet retroactive. People
serving mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine under the very
laws that created the 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and
powder cocaine also are not affected by the new guideline.

Only Congress can change mandatory minimum laws. The Sentencing
Commission's latest report to Congress confirms that punishing people
more severely for crack cocaine overstates the harmfulness of the
drug and has a devastating impact on low-level offenders and
minorities. The time is ripe for reform, especially given the
bipartisan support for sentencing reform that has emerged in recent
years. The Sentencing Commission should make the new guideline
retroactive, and Congress must act decisively and now to reform
mandatory sentencing laws.