NCJ Number
144148
Journal
Criminal Justice Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1993) Pages: 28-32,61- 62
Date Published
1993
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, passed to reduce prison overcrowding and encourage the use of more sentencing alternatives, was amended via the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 to include a mandatory minimum penalty structure for possession with intent to distribute powder cocaine and crack cocaine.
Abstract
The penalty structure ranges from 5 to 10 years imprisonment, $2 to $4 million fine, and 4 to 5 years supervised release. This structure has been challenged on constitutional grounds because of nebulous definitions of crack and racial disparities in crack cocaine sentencing. The challenges focus on due process and equal protection considerations and the eighth amendment. Athough there is no indication from case law and legislative history that Congress harbored a discriminatory intent when enacting the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, statistical evidence shows a discriminatory effect in its application. What is needed for crack cocaine offenders is not more incarceration but rather more education and treatment, along with economic opportunity for poor and black residents of inner cities. Mandatory minimum sentences do not deter drug offenses, particularly those committed by young and/or first-time offenders.