Crack Cocaine & Federal Sentencing

The average crack cocaine sentence, 120 months, is greater than: the 103-month average sentence for robbery; the 76-month average sentence for arson; the 64-month average sentence for sexual abuse; and the 31-month average sentence for manslaughter. United States Sentencing Commission, 1999 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics.

equivalent quantities of drugs. Testimony of the Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha, United States Sentencing Commission, before the House Subcommittee on Crime, June 29, 1995.

 The average sentence for crack cocaine (ten years) is thirty-five percent longer than the average methamphetamine sentence and fifty-two percent longer than the average powder cocaine sentence. United States Sentencing Commission, 1999 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics 69.

While a majority of crack users in the United States are white, 94 percent of those sentenced under the incomparably severe penalties for crack cocaine are black or Hispanic. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Justice on Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System 30 (2000); United States Sentencing Commission, 1999 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics 69.

Amid widespread criticism directed at the severity and disparate impact of the crack sentencing regime, the Sentencing Commission has twice called for reduced crack penalties, noting A[t]he current penalty structure results in a perception of unfairness and inconsistency.@ United States Sentencing Commission, Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy 8 (April 1997).

The Commission=s 1995 attempt to equalize the crack cocaine and cocaine powder penalties drew not only sharp criticism from members of Congress and the Attorney General but an unprecedented congressional rejection. The ball is now in Congress= court C Congress has yet to act on the recommendations in the congressionally ordered report issued by the Commission in 1997. It seems clear that the Commission is waiting for Congress to act in this area and that congressional action is necessary to initiate reform.

NACDL supports repeal of all mandatory minimums and greater latitude for the Commission to set drug penalties. As an intermediate step, we believe Congress should increase the quantity thresholds necessary to trigger the mandatory minimums for crack cocaine and direct the Commission to amend the guidelines accordingly.