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ACLU Fights to End Racial Inequity and Harshness in Cocaine Sentencing The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 established mandatory minimum sentencing policies that subject people who are low-level cocaine users to the same or harsher sentences as major dealers. The Act also established a 1-to-100 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, making the minimum sentence for 500 grams of powder cocaine - a more expensive drug primarily used by affluent whites - the same as that for just 5 grams of crack - a drug whose primary users are low-income people, many of whom are African American. This discrepancy remains although there is no medical basis for the difference, and despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to Congress to reconsider the penalties. The ACLU is working to educate the public about these discrepancies and to change these racist and draconian drug policies. Read more at the website of the Drug Law Reform Project.

Advocates Stand Together for Fairness in Federal Sentencing (02/26/2008)
Washington, DC – On Tuesday, February 26, activists from around the country, civil rights and professional organizations stood together to call for much-needed reform to the country’s federal sentencing laws. This press briefing and lobby event marked the culmination of a month-long series of events aimed at addressing the 20-year-old sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. According to current guidelines, a conviction for the sale of 500 grams of powder cocaine results in a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence, while the same penalty is triggered for sale or possession of only 5 grams of crack cocaine.

ACLU Hopes Candidates Won’t Make Straw Man of Sensible Sentencing Reforms (01/07/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office, a non-partisan organization, believes Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was mistaken when she called ending mandatory minimum sentences a controversial position. The organization urges all candidates, from all parties, to oppose mandatory minimum sentencing and support legislation to close the sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine.

ACLU Cheers USSC Decision to Apply New Drug Sentencing Guidelines Retroactively (12/11/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision to apply recent changes in federal crack cocaine sentencing guidelines retroactively. Thousands of offenders were sentenced under the previous guidelines, which unfairly and erroneously required them to serve more than the mandatory minimum sentence required by law. Thanks to the USSC’s decision, such offenders will now have the opportunity to appear before the court and have their case reviewed by a judge.

ACLU Sets the Record Straight on Federal Drug Sentencing Retroactivity (12/03/2007)
Washington, D.C. – The American Civil Liberties Union today reiterated its support of retroactivity for defendants serving longer sentences than required by federal law after the question was raised in this weekend’s presidential debate. The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) last month changed federal sentencing guidelines to make sure people would not serve more than the federal mandatory minimum sentence for crack offenses. The USSC is now considering whether to make those changes to the guidelines retroactive, applying them to offenders currently in prison, not just those who were arrested before the new guidelines were implemented.

Blacks and Hispanics Disproportionately Jailed in Rhode Island, National Report Indicates (07/26/2007)
PROVIDENCE, RI - The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today said that the release of a national report analyzing incarceration rates across the country demonstrates the need for a broader commitment to address racial profiling and related problems of racial disparities in Rhode Island's criminal justice system. The report, "Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity," was released this past week by The Sentencing Project, located in Washington D.C., and examined nationwide prison statistics for 2005.

Petition Alleging Violations of the Human Rights of Juveniles Sentenced to Life Without Parole in the United States of America (02/22/2006)

ACLU Coalition Amicus Brief in U.S. v. Starks (01/20/2006)
ACLU and noted sentencing experts brief arguing for judges' right to reject controversial 100-to-1 crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity.

Justice Roundtable Coalition Letter to Senate Urging Support of The Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2007 (S.1711) (02/15/2008)
We are part of the Justice Roundtable, a network of advocacy organizations that shares common goals toward rational reform of the U.S. criminal justice system. Although some of us have already forwarded individual letters to you, we write at this time to provide a collective voice on the critical issue of crack cocaine sentencing reform. We applaud the bipartisan recognition that the mandatory minimum statutes treating one gram of crack cocaine the same as 100 grams of powder cocaine must be corrected.

ACLU Comments to the United States Sentencing Commission on Crack/Powder Disparity (03/16/2007)

Testimony of Jesselyn McCurdy, ACLU Legislative Counsel, At A United States Sentencing Commission Hearing On Cocaine and Sentencing Policy (11/14/2006)

ACLU Letter to the House of Representatives Asking Members to Oppose H.R. 4472, the Children’s Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005 (03/07/2006)

Coalition Sign-On Letter to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees Regarding Mandatory Minimums for Crack Cocaine (02/16/2006)

Surprising Shift: New ACLU Poll Finds Public Dissatisfied with Lock-Em-Up Approach (02/25/2002)
WASHINGTON - A new poll commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union released today reveals a strong dissatisfaction with the current state of the criminal justice system in America and a growing public confidence in rehabilitation and alternative punishments for non-violent offenders.

Kimbrough v. United States decision (12/10/2007)
In this case, the Supreme Court affirmed that federal sentencing guidelines for sentences for cocaine offenses are advisory only, and that district courts may consider other factors - including the disparity in sentencing guidelines for crack and powder cocaine - in issuing sentences.

Kimbrough v. United States (07/26/2007)
Whether a federal trial judge may take into account the fact that the current Sentencing Guidelines for crack cocaine have proven unsound and been rejected by the Sentencing Commission itself when sentencing a crack offender. DECIDED