Jasmine Crockett and other Capitol Hill Democrats asked Biden to commute sentences of those convicted of crack cocaine offenses.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, is pushing President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of people serving more time as a result of the disparity between federal penalties for crack and powder cocaine.
The threshold triggering a minimum five-year prison sentence was set at 500 grams of powder cocaine, but just 5 grams of crack. The letter writers point to research showing the effects of the two forms of cocaine are essentially the same, research that contradicts much of the rhetoric offered as justification for putting harsher minimums on crack offenses.Congress has passed two significant bills aimed at addressing the problem. A 2010 bill increased to 28 grams the amount of crack cocaine required to trigger the five-year minimum sentence, but did not clearly apply the new standard retroactively.
“Given the misguided and disproven theories surrounding the antiquated sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, as well as the disproportionate harm this disparity has had on communities of color, we respectfully request that you use your clemency power to commute the sentences of individuals convicted of crack cocaine offenses to sentence lengths had they been charged with powder cocaine offenses,” they said.
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