"Time to end the crack disparity"

The title of this post is the title of this editorial from today's Philadelphia Inquier.  Here is an excerpt:

This is National Crack the Disparity Month. Never heard of it? Then listen. Crack the Disparity is the name of a coalition lobbying to change the federal law mandating longer sentences to persons arrested for having crack cocaine than those caught with powder cocaine....

The uneven treatment strikes at the heart of the justice system. The stiff sentence for crack cocaine is one of the main reasons prisons are overflowing with nonviolent offenders.

The harsher sentences have had a terrible impact on inner-city neighborhoods, where the cheaper crack is more likely to be found. Families are torn apart when members are arrested and sent to prison for long terms. Meanwhile, those arrested with powder cocaine, which is more likely in affluent settings where that form is more prevalent, get off light, in comparison.

Equal crimes should be punished equally. That's the message of the coalition, which will take 70 people to Washington tomorrow to lobby for an end to the disparity in cocaine sentencing....

The month-long attention to the cocaine sentencing issue will culminate Wednesday with a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. Additional information about the hearing is on The Sentencing Project's Web site, www.sentencingproject.org.

Some recent related posts:

• Talk of drug courts, but not major policy changes, in drug war from Obama team
• Will "National Call-In Day for Justice" achieve anything?
• A strong pitch to SCOTUS to have Booker apply to crack sentence reductions
• New report from The Sentencing Project on the drug war's racial dynamics