BIPARTISAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM IS BACK
REPS HAKEEM JEFFRIES, KELLY ARMSTRONG, BOBBY SCOTT, & DON BACON ANNOUNCE HISTORIC LEGISLATION TO ELIMINATE FEDERAL CRACK AND POWDER COCAINE SENTENCING DISPARITIES
EQUAL Act Would Eliminate Sentencing Disparity That Has Disproportionately Harmed Communities of Color for Decades
(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the EQUAL Act - bipartisan legislation that would eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing and apply the change retroactively. Companion legislation was introduced by Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) in the Senate earlier this year. In response to the introduction of this long-overdue legislation in the House of Representatives, Holly Harris, President and Executive Director of Justice Action Network, the country’s largest bipartisan criminal justice organization, issued the following statement:
“This historic, bipartisan legislation seeks to finally and fully eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine—one of the most egregious vestiges of true racism in America’s drug policy. This disparity serves no legitimate purpose: it doesn’t make anyone safer, and it is not grounded in science or logic. However, it has severely and disparately impacted disadvantaged communities and people of color, eviscerating an entire generation of Black and Brown men and women sentenced to decades in prison based on an unfair, indefensible sentencing regime. Many are still there, and we are hopeful this legislation, sponsored by courageous lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, will finally apply justice fairly to all communities, and free all the men and women serving unjustifiably long prison sentences.”
“We are so grateful to Representatives Jeffries, Armstrong, Scott, and Bacon for reaching across the aisle to sponsor this groundbreaking legislation. History will smile on these statesmen, working together during an acidic political environment, to right a terrible wrong. We encourage all their colleagues to support this long overdue, bipartisan bill, and we urge Leadership to prioritize the Equal Act and ensure it reaches the President’s desk as soon as possible.”
The EQUAL Act will eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing and apply the change retroactively.
The 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act established a 100:1 ratio for mandatory minimum sentences for cocaine offenses. The scientific explanation for the disparity was subsequently debunked—there is only a marginal difference between the chemical makeup and effect between the crack and powder cocaine.
The current law has disproportionately impacted Black Americans and communities of color. A U.S. Sentencing Commission report found that in Fiscal Year 2019, 81% of all crack trafficking offenders were Black.
The EQUAL Act builds on the bipartisan successes of the First Step Act, which retroactively applied the disparity reduction under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (18:1).
The National District Attorneys Association and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys have both endorsed the EQUAL Act, along with Americans for Prosperity, the ACLU, Prison Fellowship, the Justice Roundtable, FAMM, Federal and Community Defenders, the American Bar Association, and Drug Policy Alliance.