wfn.org | Faith groups hail passage of drug sentencing fairness law

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

U.S. Faith community hails House passage of legislation
to reduce sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine            

Washington, July 30, 2010 -- Faith leaders applauded the U.S. Congress'  
approval yesterday of legislation to reduce the sentencing disparity  between 
crack and powder cocaine offenses.       

The House of Representatives approved by voice vote "The Fair Sentencing  Act 
of 2010," which passed the Senate in March. The bill now awaits  President 
Obama's signature. 

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council  of 
Churches, called the current approach to sentencing crack versus  powder 
cocaine unjust. "Its impact is devastating," he  said.       

Priorities are skewed, according to Kinnamon. He said churches and  communities 
are left to contend with the consequences of parents being  locked away from 
their children for long periods of time, and tax  dollars that could be used to 
pursue high-level "kingpins," who flush  large amounts of illicit substances 
onto the streets, are diverted to  pursue low-level offenders.       

"The uneven treatment of communities of color also increases the  cynicism with 
which many view the criminal justice system," Kinnamon  said. "As a result, any 
intended deterrent effect diminishes."  
 
"The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010" raises the minimum quantity of crack  cocaine 
that triggers a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence from 5 grams  to 28 grams, 
and from 50 grams to 280 grams to trigger a 10-year  mandatory minimum 
sentence.       

The amount of powder cocaine required to trigger the 5- and 10-year  mandatory 
minimums remains at 500 grams and 5 kilograms,  respectively.       

The new legislation eliminates the mandatory minimum for simple  possession of 
crack cocaine.       

The quantity disparity between crack and powder cocaine moves from 100  to 1 to 
18 to 1, reducing a disparity that has been in effect for more  than two 
decades.       

According to estimates from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the changes  to the 
current penalties for crack cocaine offenses would affect nearly  3,000 
defendants a year by reducing their average sentence 27 months.  The Commission 
projects that 10 years after enactment the changes could  produce a prison 
population reduction of about  3,800.       

The bill's passage does not retroactively affect people currently  serving time 
for low-level crack cocaine offenses.
       
A press release issued yesterday by the United Methodist General Board  of 
Church & Society said United Methodists celebrate the passage of "The  Fair 
Sentencing Act of 2010" as a major step in the necessary direction  to lessen 
the U.S.'s ballooning prison population and address the  injustice against 
African Americans inherent in previous law. 
  
Bishop Peggy Johnson, episcopal leader of the Eastern Pennsylvania and  
Peninsula-Delaware Conferences, said she is "deeply committed to  fairness in 
our criminal justice system" and regularly sees its lack of  fairness, 
particularly as it relates to the disproportionate  incarceration of people of 
color.       

"The unfair sentencing for crimes such as crack offenses no doubt has  
something to do with this reality," Bishop Johnson said. "Martin Luther  King 
Jr. once said that 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it  bends 
towards justice.' Today we have stepped closer to realizing  fairness in our 
criminal justice system."  

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) welcomes the passage of  the 
Fair Sentencing Act, said Galen Carey, director of Government  Affairs. "It 
makes significant progress toward parity in criminal  penalties for possession 
and use of crack and powder cocaine," he said.  "While not fully equalizing 
penalties for the two drugs, the Fair  Sentencing Act reduces the disparity and 
will also reduce the cost to  taxpayers of unnecessarily lengthy incarceration."
       
Carey said NAE continues to advocate for comprehensive sentencing reform  that 
punishes criminals while advancing the public interest and  requiring criminals 
to provide restitution to their innocent victims.

Eliminating the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences has  been 
a 2010 legislative priority of the United Methodist General Board  of Church & 
Society, according to Bill Mefford, director of Civil &  Human Rights. Mefford 
has been working with an interfaith coalition to  bring this crucial reform to 
the U.S.'s criminal justice system. For  more information, contact Bill Mefford 
(bmefford@umc-gbcs.org)  (bmefford@umc-gbcs.org) at (202) 488-5657.
                            Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of 
the Churches of  Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical 
cooperation  among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 36 member faith 
groups  -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, 
 historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45  million 
persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities  across the 
nation.

Contact: Wayne Rhodes, Director of Communications, United Methodist  General 
Board of Church and Society, (202) 488-5630 /  wrhodes@umc-gbcs.org

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 
(cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org