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Fair Sentencing Argumentative Essay

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In 2010, then President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into law. The law aimed to reduce the disparity between the amount of powder cocaine and crack cocaine needed to trigger federal penalties from a ratio of 100:1 (originally set by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986), to a ratio of 18:1. The law also eliminated the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of crack cocaine (Fair Sentencing Act, 2010). The act is expected to be beneficial to around three thousand defendants a year and reduce sentences by an average of twenty-seven months.
Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, crack cocaine was considered the “evil brother” and was deemed more dangerous than cocaine in powder form. Research conducted by the United States …show more content…

The result was a mass incarceration of African-Americans with almost zero reduction of the offenses it aimed to deter. By recognizing a ratio of 100:1, the act was viewed as a war on minorities, not drugs. Young, low-income African-American males represented the majority of offenders arrested for crack cocaine, while Caucasians represented the majority of powder cocaine offenders. Due to the rate of incarceration, taxpayers were tired of “footing the bill” for a crime that was disproportionately sentenced (Zimmerman, 2014, Austin-Hillery, 2012).
As with any offense, there needs to be laws and sentencing guidelines. The Fair Sentencing Act currently set the ratio of 18:1. I believe until there is a ratio of 1:1, there is nothing “fair” about the act. Prior to the enactment of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act powder cocaine and crack cocaine were not distinguishable. In fact, they shared many similarities. Crack cocaine was considered more dangerous simply based off of the opinions of members of Congress with no factual evidence of it being more …show more content…

Since crack cocaine and powder cocaine were undistinguishable prior to the enactment of the act and with no research to show one is worse than the other, the decision to label crack cocaine “the worst” of the two was based off of the pretence of “fixing” a rising drug problem. It seemed to be a “Band-Aid” fix meant to deter individuals from committing crimes involving crack cocaine by setting absurd sentences and using those individuals as the “poster” children for the law. Unfortunately, it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears and into the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mind frame within Congress and amongst politicians for far to long.
The Fair Sentencing Act seems to be derived using the enlightenment model. Under the enlightenment model research and evidence provides a foundation for the decision-makers. It can be proven, and has been, that crack cocaine and powder cocaine are no different from each

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