On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance legislation to address the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.
Current law sets out a ratio of 100:1 in terms of the amount of powder cocaine and the amount of crack cocaine that result in the same sentence.
The Fair Sentencing Act, as introduced, would have provided equal treatment under law, creating a 1:1 ratio. A bipartisan, compromise amendment adopted by the Committee on Thursday would establish the ratio at 18:1.
"I strongly support the 1:1 ratio in Senator Durbin's original bill, and I believe that comprehensive change would truly restore a sense of justice to federal drug enforcement and help to restore faith in the system in many communities where that faith has been lost," said Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Ver.
He added, "At the same time, Congress has waited more than 20 years to fix this problem. While we fail to act, thousands of men and women serve in prison for years and years, while those who are more privileged serve much shorter sentences for essentially the same crime. This is unfair, and we need to fix it now."
Leahy, along with Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., first included the Fair Sentencing Act on the Judiciary Committee's agenda for a business meeting on December 10, 2009. The act will refocus federal resources toward large scale, violent traffickers and increase penalties for the worst drug offenders.
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