New day for fair and proportionate sentencing laws
For Immediate Release
Date: April 29, 2009
Contact: Monica Pratt Raffanel (202) 621-5044
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) hails today’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice that supports replacing the controversial 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine with an even 1:1 ratio. DOJ’s announcement, included in testimony to be delivered on Capitol Hill by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, marks the first time the Justice Department has publicly endorsed equalization of the penalties between crack and powder cocaine. This signals a significant shift in DOJ policy, which has previously supported the sentencing disparity that has been in place for more than 20 years.
“DOJ’s support of equalization of crack and powder cocaine penalties means a new day has dawned for fair and proportionate sentencing laws, “ said Mary Price, FAMM Vice President and General Counsel. “Two decades ago, little was known about crack cocaine. Flawed assumptions about the drug drove Congress to adopt a particularly harsh sentencing structure for crack cocaine when it established new mandatory minimums for a host of drug offenses. Now, those perceptions have been repeatedly disproven and discredited.”
FAMM has been leading the fight for individualized and proportionate sentences for 18 years. The group has been especially active in the campaign to change the laws that set unjustifiably harsh crack sentences.
Over the past 15 years, FAMM and its members have: testified countless times before committees of Congress and the U.S. Sentencing Commission; generated more than 33,000 letters of support from the public in 2007 for lower crack sentences; met with key policymakers; and garnered extensive media coverage. FAMM’s tireless advocacy helped convince the Sentencing Commission in 2007 to lessen the disparity by reducing crack sentences and by making the change retroactive. More than 20,000 people serving federal sentences for crack became eligible for sentence reductions.
FAMM member Cedric Parker will testify at the hearing during which the DOJ will make its historic announcement. Mr. Parker’s sister, Eugenia Jennings, a young mother of three, was sentenced for a crack-related crime to nearly 22 years in prison, more than double what she would have received for a powder cocaine offense. (For more on Ms. Jennings’ story, visit www.famm.org).
FAMM’s Price said the battle now turns to Congress. “We urge Congress to end the crack-powder disparity. This and other sentencing inequities could best be addressed by eliminating mandatory minimums altogether. It’s time for Congress to act,” concluded Price.
FAMM is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to promote fair and proportionate sentencing policies and to challenge inflexible and excessive penalties required by mandatory sentencing laws. Visit
www.famm.org to read Parker’s testimony to the committee and background on the laws. To speak to a
FAMM spokesperson, please contact Monica Pratt
Raffanel at
media@famm.org.