The Fair Sentencing Act is “a bipartisan bill to help right a longstanding wrong by narrowing sentencing disparities between those convicted of crack cocaine and powder cocaine,” Obama said last week in a speech to the National Urban League. “It’s the right thing to do.”
The law ends what the Drug Policy Alliance calls the problem of the 100-to-1 ratio.
Previously, a person caught with five grams of crack cocaine would receive a mandatory sentence of five years — that same person would have to possess at least 500 grams of powder cocaine to earn the same sentence. This discrepancy tended to fall harder on African-Americans, who are charged more often with crimes involving crack cocaine.
“By signing this reform into law President Obama will save taxpayer money, reduce racial disparities, and better prioritize federal law enforcement towards major crime syndicates instead of low-level offender,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance.
Back in April, our colleague Mimi Hall wrote about a man seeking clemency for a life sentence related to crack cocaine.
A bipartisan congressional delegation watched the signing.
