Nine years after those laws were passed, the issue is again ripping through the criminal-justice system. Critics say the sentencing disparity for the two types of cocaine is unfair and ends up giving harsher treatment to minorities. Sale of as little as five grams of crack, barely a teaspoon, gets violators a minimum of five years in prison. It takes 100 times that amount of cocaine powder-the more expensive form preferred by most whites-to trigger a comparable sentence. An astounding 90 percent of those convicted of crack offenses in federal court are black, compared with 30 percent convicted on powdered-cocaine charges.
Law-enforcement authorities say those figures simply reflect who commits the crimes, not discrimination. And, they say, crack deserves harsher sentences because it continues to ravage the nation’s poor neighborhoods and leads to crime and gang violence. “To argue that we ought to treat them the same way is like saying we should treat six-guns and Uzis the same way,” said Justice Department spokesman Carl Stem.
The debate broke out in Congress two weeks ago. Earlier this year the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal courts, had recommended equalizing the sentences. It said reports that crack use caused an alarming rise in violence, which drove Congress to act in the 1980s, may have been overblown. It also concluded the disparity wasn’t justified: there is no chemical difference between the two drugs, for example. But Congress was in no mood to lose the crime issue, and the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to reject the commission’s proposals. The White House indicated that President Bill Clinton supports Congress.
While the votes got little attention in Washington, prison inmates apparently noticed. Days after the House vote on Oct. 18, inmates at five prisons set fires and broke windows. Federal officials say they aren’t sure what caused the unrest gut prisoner-rights groups say inmates closely following the congressional votes were angered. Arthur Curry says his son, who watched the House vote with other inmates on C-Span, called to say he was “very disappointed.”
Last week Attorney General Janet Reno agreed the 100-1 ratio wasn’t fair and urged the Sentencing Commission to narrow, but not eliminate, the disparity. That irked reformers who wanted her to act earlier. Meanwhile, that leaves Derrick Curry wondering why he’s in prison while white, coke-selling suburbanites walk free.
