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Crack cocaine. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111–220 (text)) was an Act of Congress that was signed into federal law by United States President Barack Obama on August 3, 2010, that reduces the disparity between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine needed to trigger certain federal criminal penalties from a 100:1 weight ratio to an 18:1 weight ratio [1] and eliminated the ...
The top White House drug policy official testified that the disparities have "caused significant harm for decades, particularly for individuals, families and communities of color."
"That would have been 1,500 criminals on the streets if you had your way," Sen. Marsha Blackburn said. "Retroactively weakening sentencing laws lets hardened criminals out early," Sen. Tom Cotton ...
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However, the Act imposed a 100-to-1 ratio for powder to crack cocaine. The same five-year mandatory minimum sentence applies to defendants who are held responsible for either 500 grams of powder cocaine or 5 grams of crack. The ten-year mandatory minimum applied to defendants responsible for either 5000 grams of powder cocaine or 50 grams of crack.
Until the 2010 changes in sentencing guidelines, there existed a significant disparity in how the length of sentences for the possession of crack cocaine and powder cocaine. [2] These changes resulted from reports by the federal Sentencing Commission that the crack-to-powder mandatory minimum ratio of 100-to-1 was too high and unjustified. [3]
When Knight and Cooley were sentenced, the length of the federal sentences for crack offenses were much higher than those for offenses related to powder cocaine, with a larger percentage of Black ...
Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010 which altered the possession levels for crack cocaine to higher levels as to bring these in line with the possession levels established for powder cocaine. For example, the tier 2 possession level was increased to 28 grams (0.99 oz) of crack cocaine.