Durbin cocaine sentencing fix heads to president's desk
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
July 28, 2010
By: Bill Lambrecht
WASHINGTON -- In the mid-1980s, Congress was so alarmed at the arrival of crack cocaine that members approved a law triggering a mandatory five-year sentence for possession of just five grams of crack.
By contrast, it would take 500 grams of powder cocaine to earn a five-year sentence, a disparity that has been the source of countless debates over the years.
But today, Congress moved to restore fairness to cocaine sentencing when the House passed legislation engineered by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that ends the 100-to-1 disparity.
The legislation still requires roughly an 18-to-1 disparity in sentencing when comparing weights of crack and powder cocaine. But Durbin said it makes the law much fairer and is a major step toward the 1-to-1 ratio that he is seeking.
"When crack cocaine first appeared on the scene, there was a near-panic in the halls of Congress ... It scared us to death and we overreacted," Durbin said this afternoon.
"I'm afraid a great injustice was done to a number of people," he added.
That injustice was felt inordinately by African Americans. Roughly 80 percent of crack cocaine defendants are black while African Americans make up only about 30 percent of powder cocaine defendants.
Durbin was aided in his drive by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a conservative lawmaker with whom he differs on many issues.
Sessions recalled to reporters this afternoon his years prosecuting drug cases and said he believes that crack remains a dangerous drug, one that breeds addition and violence.
But he asserted that sentencing laws must meet a test of "rationality, fairness and logic" and that the nation's cocaine laws at present do not.
"It was time to fix it," he said.
The legislation, already passed by the Senate, moves to the desk of President Barack Obama for his signature.
The new law is not retroactive, but Sessions said that it is "a matter that ought to be discussed" when the U.S. Sentencing Commission makes recommendations to judges.
Durbin said he compromised to get something done this year.
"I could still be sitting in the Judiciary Committee looking at 1-to-1 and that wouldn't have accomplished anything," he said.
WASHINGTON -- In the mid-1980s, Congress was so alarmed at the arrival of crack cocaine that members approved a law triggering a mandatory five-year sentence for possession of just five grams of crack.
By contrast, it would take 500 grams of powder cocaine to earn a five-year sentence, a disparity that has been the source of countless debates over the years.
But today, Congress moved to restore fairness to cocaine sentencing when the House passed legislation engineered by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that ends the 100-to-1 disparity.
The legislation still requires roughly an 18-to-1 disparity in sentencing when comparing weights of crack and powder cocaine. But Durbin said it makes the law much fairer and is a major step toward the 1-to-1 ratio that he is seeking.
"When crack cocaine first appeared on the scene, there was a near-panic in the halls of Congress ... It scared us to death and we overreacted," Durbin said this afternoon.
"I'm afraid a great injustice was done to a number of people," he added.
That injustice was felt inordinately by African Americans. Roughly 80 percent of crack cocaine defendants are black while African Americans make up only about 30 percent of powder cocaine defendants.
Durbin was aided in his drive by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a conservative lawmaker with whom he differs on many issues.
Sessions recalled to reporters this afternoon his years prosecuting drug cases and said he believes that crack remains a dangerous drug, one that breeds addition and violence.
But he asserted that sentencing laws must meet a test of "rationality, fairness and logic" and that the nation's cocaine laws at present do not.
"It was time to fix it," he said.
The legislation, already passed by the Senate, moves to the desk of President Barack Obama for his signature.
The new law is not retroactive, but Sessions said that it is "a matter that ought to be discussed" when the U.S. Sentencing Commission makes recommendations to judges.
Durbin said he compromised to get something done this year.
"I could still be sitting in the Judiciary Committee looking at 1-to-1 and that wouldn't have accomplished anything," he said.