California has eliminated the sentencing differences between crack and cocaine offenses, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Sentencing Act into law on Sunday.
The Act, also known as SB 1010, mirrors the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which narrowed the gap in federal law between the punishments for crack and cocaine offenders. But California’s law goes further, treating cocaine and “cocaine base” (read: crack) the same in terms of punishing drug convicts.
What does this change mean for drug offenders in California?
Higher Penalties for Crack Eliminated
Criminal laws in California and throughout the nation have been amended over the last few decades to address what many saw as a serious criminal threat — crack cocaine. Because of the laws specifically targeting crack, it was possible for a crack dealer to serve substantially more time in prison and be subject to criminal forfeiture for selling half as much crack (by weight) as a dealer selling powder cocaine. As Slate notes, this had the perverse effect of imprisoning more blacks for cocaine-related crimes, which many attribute to the …read more
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