Adam Serwer argues for ending the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine:
The sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine is a national disgrace. Both President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have called for it to be ended, and prominent Republicans like Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn have indicated they’re sympathetic to the idea. Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the Fair Sentencing Act, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s proposal to eliminate the disparity entirely.
“It is plainly unjust to hand down wildly disparate prison sentences for materially similar crimes,” Holder said at a D.C. Court of Appeals Judicial Conference last summer. “It is unjust to have a sentencing disparity that disproportionately and illogically affects some racial groups.”
