Finally! Fair Sentencing For All Cocaine Offenders Regardless of Race
On April 29 th 2009, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Lanny Breur announced that the DOJ and its administration support ending the 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine thus equalizing the sentencing regimes.
Current Sentencing for Cocaine Crimes
Currently, the sentencing guidelines for Federal drug charges such as possession of cocaine for sale is based on the weight of the controlled substance. For more than 20 years, as an example: possession of 5 grams of crack would earn the same mandatory 5 year sentence as possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine.
The inherent flaw in this type of sentencing is that is has long been established that among the poorer African American drug offenders crack cocaine is often the drug of choice over powder cocaine. Much of this is due to the unavailability of powder cocaine in the poorer neighborhoods. This sentencing guideline in effect has made “possession of cocaine” by many African Americans hold a significantly longer prison sentence than that of others who simple possess powder cocaine.
Push To End Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has urged Congress to adjust the federal sentencing guidelines to match the current position taken by the Obama administration and the Department of Justice in order to completely end the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses.
Charged with a Cocaine Crime?
At Imhoff & Associates we have a proven record of helping our clients achieve superior case results through our outstanding trial work as well as our commitment to keeping up to date on the most current changes is our legal system. Staying on top of an ever changing legal system gives our clients advantages many other firms may have missed.
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