African-American lawmakers have been leading a decade-long effort to reduce the disparities between mandatory sentences for drug crimes involving crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus involved in the effort finally succeeded in their campaign on Wednesday with the House passage of the Fair Sentencing Act.

The law seeks to reduce the harsher penalties that are handed down for narcotics offenses involving crack cocaine (a drug used more commonly by blacks) than for narcotics offenses involving powder cocaine (a drug used more commonly by whites). The new law will change the current law that has been in place for 25 years, which sets a minimum mandatory sentence of five years for offenses involving possession of five grams of crack cocaine.

The new law will drop the mandatory five-year sentence for first-time offenders. It will also drop the mandatory sentence for repeat offenses involving less than 28 grams of crack cocaine. CNN quoted Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, as saying that the new law "will reduce sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1."

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch that develops national sentencing guidelines for federal courts, has been calling for Congress to change the crack cocaine laws since 2002. The law passed the House with bipartisan support. The measure passed the Senate in March and is set to be signed into law by President Obama within the month.

 

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House passes bill to reduce disparity in cocaine penalties (CNN)