New war over crack: racism wasn't an issue when laws first passed.(100-1 sentencing disparity vs. powder cocaine sentences)

From: U.S. News & World Report | Date: November 6, 1995| Author: | Copyright information

The 1986 and '88 Congresses imposed harsher crack mandatory sentences, for both dealing and posession, in bi-partisan election-year attempts to appear 'tough on crime.' A federal commission has recommended equalization, but Congress has not acted. Blacks serve most of the tougher crack prison terms.

It's 1986. A new, potent form of cocaine called crack engulfs Florida like wildfire and threatens other regions. Congress, rushing to enact a tough anticrime law before the fall election, establishes a punishment for selling the drug that amounts to a 100-to-1 increase over the penalty for ...

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