Dealing in reality

Congress probably didn’t set out to pass racially discriminatory laws 20 years ago when it first began clamping down on crack cocaine. The intention was to stem a drug epidemic that was rapidly tearing inner-city neighborhoods apart -- driving gang warfare, splitting families and, it was feared, creating a generation of “crack babies” too hopelessly damaged to ever become productive members of society. The result was federal sentencing guidelines that imposed much harsher terms on dealers in crack than in powder cocaine.

Regardless of the intention, those guidelines proved not only discriminatory but ineffective -- as well as unjustified by scientific research. More than 80% of those serving time in federal prison on crack charges are African American. This has justifiably fueled distrust and disrespect for the law in black communities. Why should a black crack addict get more time than a white cocaine addict? Especially when research has shown that the two drugs are pharmacologically identical? Moreover, 20 years of harsh crack sentences have done nothing to stem the drug trade.

As of Nov. 1, the sentencing disparity has been eased, and Congress did the right thing by allowing the changes to take effect. Today, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a panel created by Congress in 1984 to ensure fair terms for those convicted on federal charges, will discuss whether to make the reduction in sentences retroactive -- a move that would shave an average of at least two years off the terms of nearly 20,000 inmates.

The Justice Department argues that returning all those convicts to the streets represents a potential danger to the community. Perhaps, but then the release of any inmate represents a potential danger; anyone eligible for release has already served ample time for his or her crime. Because the Sentencing Commission has already ruled that the crack guidelines were unfair, it would be inconsistent to keep inmates in prison simply because they were sentenced before the rules were changed. What is unfair now was unfair then.

It’s abundantly clear that the get-tough-on-crime approach didn’t work with crack cocaine -- the epidemic is alive and well and still takes a daily toll in Los Angeles. The sentencing changes should signal the start of a new approach, one that focuses on community-based treatment, job training and other forms of rehabilitation for addicts.