Congress finds traction on drug sentencing equality bills

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Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Congress would remove disparities in federal sentencing guidelines for powdered and crack cocaine convictions. Among the co-sponsors is Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina.

A bill introduced in Congress last month would wipe out federal sentencing disparities between crack and powdered cocaine convictions.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is a co-sponsor of the bipartisan Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act, or EQUAL Act to eliminate the double standard, which has resulted in mass incarceration of Black men serving disproportionately long sentences for crack convictions. The legislation, which barely failed  to pass Congress last year, has bipartisan support among lawmakers from both chambers.

“If passed into law, the EQUAL Act would rectify one of the worst vestiges of the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ and fix an unjust drug sentencing disparity that has caused thousands of people, most of whom are Black men, to be unfairly imprisoned for decades,” said Jenna Bottler, executive director of the Justice Action Network, which advocates for bipartisan criminal justice reform at the state and federal levels. “The EQUAL Act continues to be a unifying force for Washington, both parties support this legislation, along with law enforcement leaders, civil rights groups, and a majority of North Carolinians.”

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, in 1986 before the adoption of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act established federal mandatory minimum sentencing for crack offenses, the average federal drug sentence for Black people was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later, the average federal sentence for Black convicts was 49% higher.

President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to reduce disparities between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine needed to trigger federal criminal penalties from a weight ratio of 100-to-1 to 18-to-1 and eliminated the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine.

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), along with Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) filed the EQUAL Act along with Republican co-sponsors Rand Paul of Kentucky and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Democratic Sens. Christopher Coons of Delaware and Sheldon Whitehouse of Illinois are also co-sponsors.

On the House side, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) co-sponsored the bill, with Scott filing the House version.

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