One in Nine: Behind a Racially Discriminatory Sentencing Policy - Page 2

In June of 1986, University of Maryland college basketball player Len Bias died from a cocaine overdose within a day of being recruited by the Boston Celtics. Bias’s tragic death sparked a public drug panic, and Congress reacted by passing the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Included in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act were mandatory minimum sentences for possession of crack and powder cocaine. Possession of five grams of crack or possession of 500 grams of powder carried a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Possession of 50 grams of crack or possession of 5000 grams of powder carried a ten year mandatory minimum.

These mandatory minimums set up a 100 to 1 disparity between the two drugs, although the amounts packed nearly the same number of doses gram for gram and had identical biological effects. There was a major difference, however, in the manufacture and distribution of crack and powder cocaine: powder tended to be more costly, more suburban, and more popular among white drug users, while crack tended to be more affordable, concentrated in urban areas, and more popular among black drug users. These differences were compounded as police efforts to combat drug use were often focused on low-income urban areas and communities of color. In addition, racial profiling contributed to the likelihood that drug users of color would be discovered more frequently than white drug users. 

The differing social and economic implications of cocaine’s variant forms have been devastating to the black community. According to the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, African-Americans make up only 15% of the country’s drug users—but they make up 37% of those arrested for drug violations, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison for a drug offense. When data from before and after 1986 is compared, it’s clear that mandatory minimums are responsible for a shift in prison demographics. The Drug Policy Alliance has stated that in 1986, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 11 percent higher than for whites. By 1990, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 49 percent higher.

Racialized sentencing disparities have long been present in the United States criminal justice system. In 1984, Congress created the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency of the Judicial Branch which was intended to eliminate racial disparities. The job of the US Sentencing Commission was to set “sentencing guidelines,” the official ranges of appropriate correction time for crimes. In theory, these guidelines would prevent judges from handing out arbitrary sentences. But since Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act a mere two years later, Congress’s mandatory minimums have trumped any guidelines set by the US Sentencing Commission. 

Article Author: Clayton Perry

Clayton Perry's mission parallels that of John Hope Franklin, Marcus Garvey and Carter G. Woodson. As the founder of the NUBIANO Project, Perry facilitates the design of projects that give voice to the Black diaspora, empower the Black community, …

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