Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity

For Immediate Release: May 31, 2007 Contact: Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, E: [email protected], Tel: 334-685-7377 Local Non-Profit Group Seeking to End Racist Drug Laws Town Hall Meeting Set to Discuss Federal Law Reform, Activists & Politicians Birmingham - On June 2, 2007, The Ordinary People’s Society (TOPS) will co-sponsor a town hall meeting that will be hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Birmingham, Alabama on the need to repair the current discriminatory federal drug sentencing policy. The event is open to the press, and TOPS speakers will be available before and afterwards for interviews. What: The Incarceration Nation – Town Hall Meeting on Crack vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparities Speakers: Congressman Artur Davis, (D - Birmingham) Senator Jeff Sessions (R - AL) (invited) Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of TOPS Ed Vaughan, President, Alabama State Conference NAACP Dr. Foster Cook, Director, UAB - Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities Deborah Vagins, Policy Council for Civil Rights, ACLU Washington Legislative Office Barry Hargrove, Field Organizer, ACLU Washington Legislative Office When: 9:00am - 1:00pm Saturday, June 2 Where: Church of the Reconciler - 112 14th Street, North - Birmingham, AL Currently, distributing just five grams of crack carries a minimum five-year federal prison sentence, while distributing 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same sentence. Despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Congress has not addressed this 100:1 sentencing disparity, which has devastated African-American communities and undermined faith in the criminal justice system. African-Americans comprise the vast majority of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses, although whites and Hispanics form the majority of crack users. “These laws highlight the indecent and subconscious racist tactics still supported in the criminal justice system,” said Kenneth Glasgow, Executive Director of The Ordinary People’s Society. “Five grams of crack cocaine sets forth a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, yet five-hundred grams of powder cocaine” A 2006 ACLU report found no medical or legal justification for the unfair sentencing disparity ratio. Although Congress' stated intent was to target high-level cocaine traffickers, the result has been just the opposite - a 2002 USSC report found that only 15 percent of federal cocaine traffickers can be classified as high-level, while over 70 percent of crack defendants have low-level involvement in drug activity, such as street level dealers, couriers, or lookouts. T.O.P.S. is a nonprofit, faith-based organization that offers hope, without regard to race sex, creed, color or social status, to individuals and their families who suffer the effects of drug addiction, incarceration, homelessness, unemployment, hunger and illness, through comprehensive faith-based programs that provide a continuum of unconditional acceptance and care. ### T.O.P.S. (The Ordinary People Society) are a nonprofit organization that will provide an alternative to criminal behavior. This is a faith-based organization that will bridge the gap between the have and have-nots. We will provide rehabilitation to the repeat offenders while creating a program that target the youths before they reach the Criminal Justice System. Since the War on Drugs has been established the prison populations have continued to increase costing taxpayers more than $20,000 per inmate. This method is draining many State Governments. Also, families are suffering due to the lost of a mother, father, sister or brother. With our counseling and street ministry we are providing a second chance for many of our citizens both drug users and drug pushers. We would like to extend our program to include an after school program for youths and also for some adults so they can take pride and improve their self-esteem while improving their own family's life. T.O.P.S. provides counseling services to Ramsey Youth Services, Houston County Jail, and Dothan City Jail. T.O.P.S. would like to include a transitional facility that will provide a structural environment that will include education, treatment, and rehabilitation.

For Immediate Release: May 17, 2007 Contact: Jasmine L. Tyler at 202-294-8292 US Sentencing Commission urges Congress to Reduce Crack/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity Experts to Brief Congress on Current Cocaine Policy and the Need for Reform Washington, DC—Criminal justice experts will hold briefings on the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity for Congressional staffers on Monday, May 21. They will discuss the United States Sentencing Commission’s (USSC) May 2007 Guideline Amendment and Report to Congress. Joining the panel will be Hilary Shelton from the NAACP, Pat Nolan from Prison Fellowship, and Lisa Rich from the USSC. These briefings will be moderated by Jessalyn McCurdy of the ACLU and Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project. The briefing is co-sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance. ********************************************************************* WHAT: Reforming Crack and Powder Cocaine Sentencing Briefing for Congressional staffers WHO: Members of Congress and staff, media, policy advocates, stakeholders, treatment providers, faith leaders When: Monday, May 21 House Briefing: 9 a.m. - B340 Rayburn House Office Building Senate Briefing: 2 p.m. - 485 Russell Senate Office Building ********************************************************************* Twenty years ago when the crack cocaine sentencing laws were first passed by Congress, the United States faced a panic about the alleged “crack epidemic” and operated under the impression that crack had inherent properties that made it infinitely more dangerous than powder cocaine. These reports, which served as the basis for the huge disparity, have since been found to be fundamentally flawed, rendering the 100-to-1 disparity arbitrary and capricious. Further, these laws have proven ineffective in reducing drug use or distribution and have instead exacerbated racial disparity and injustices in our criminal justice system. The USSC has taken the lead on eliminating the crack/powder sentencing disparity by amending the federal sentencing guidelines to lessen the punishment range for crack cocaine cases by approximately one to two years. The Commission also urged Congress to reform federal mandatory minimum sentences to reduce the statutory disparity. Currently, there is growing bipartisan support for reforming the crack/powder disparity. There are two house bills pending and a similar one before the Senate. # # #

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Federal crack cocaine penalties overstate the harmfulness of the drug, apply mostly to low-level offenders, and hit minorities hardest, concludes the U.S. Sentencing Commission in a new report to Congress, "Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy," released today, May 15. Based on these findings, the Commission maintains it's consistently held position that current crack cocaine penalties significantly undermine the congressional objectives of the Sentencing Reform Act, including fairness, uniformity and proportionality. The solution? Congress should act, says the report. Mary Price, vice president and general counsel of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a national, nonpartisan sentencing reform organization, says, "The prisoners, children and families torn apart by these unjustifiably harsh penalties are watching closely and will welcome crack sentencing reforms that restore some justice to crack penalties. Only Congress can change our harsh mandatory minimum crack laws. Lawmakers should not squander the important opportunity presented by the most recent set of findings and recommendations by the Sentencing Commission. The time is ripe for reform, especially given the bipartisan support for crack sentencing reform that has emerged in recent years." In its report, the Commission again unanimously and strongly urged Congress to act promptly on the following recommendations: (1) Increase the five-year and ten-year mandatory minimum threshold quantities for crack cocaine offenses to focus the penalties more closely on serious and major traffickers, (2) Repeal the mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine and (3) Reject addressing the 100-to-1 disparity by decreasing the five-year and ten-year mandatory minimum threshold quantities for powder cocaine offenses, citing no evidence to justify such an increase in quantity-based penalties for powder cocaine offenses. In addition, the Commission seeks authority to incorporate any future changes to the mandatory minimums for crack into the federal sentencing guidelines. FAMM strongly supports these recommendations and looks forward to working with members of Congress to implement these reasonable and long-overdue reforms to crack cocaine sentencing. Visit www.ussc.gov to read the report.

On 27 April 2007, the US Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted to approve an amendment of the crack cocaine guidelines to lower applicable sentence ranges. In its press release (http://www.ussc.gov/PRESS/rel0407.htm), the USSC announced that a forthcoming report "will set forth current data and information that continue to support the Commission's consistently held position that the 100-to-1 crack-powder drug quantity ratio significantly undermines various congressional objectives set forth in the Sentencing Reform Act and elsewhere." The report has not been published as of this date. FedCURE will post the report as soon as it becomes available. You can check the USSC site at: http://www.ussc.gov.

[Courtesy of Families Against Mandatory Minimums] WASHINGTON, D.C.: For the first time in 12 years, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has approved guideline changes to federal crack cocaine penalties, tonight by a 6-1 vote. The amendment affects approximately 78 percent of defendants convicted of crack cocaine offenses, reducing their sentences by an average of 16 months. It will now be sent to Congress on May 1, 2007, along with other proposed sentencing amendments.

For Immediate Release: April 27, 2007 Contact: Michael Courlander, Public Affairs Officer at (202) 502-4597 U.S. SENTENCING COMMISSION VOTES TO AMEND GUIDELINES FOR TERRORISM, SEX OFFENSES, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFENSES, AND CRACK COCAINE OFFENSES

[A press release from our friends at Drug Policy Alliance] Democratic Majority Has Opportunity to Find Exit Strategy for Failed War on Drugs Access to Treatment, Reduction of HIV and Drug Overdoses and Tackling Inhumane Mandatory Minimums Now Possible with “New Direction” Dems

Senate Staff Briefing - Friday, October 27, 2006 - The 20-Year Legacy of Crack & Powder Cocaine Sentencing Sponsored by the Justice Roundtable Friday, October 27, 2006 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. 226 Dirksen