From the Sentencing Project (http://www.sentencingproject.org):
We saw a breakthrough this week in federal sentencing reform: on Wednesday, July 21, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted by a landslide to pass the EQUAL Act!
If passed into law, the EQUAL Act would finally eliminate the disparity in federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing. For the last 35 years, crack and powder cocaine have been treated differently at sentencing, even though they are the same drug. Harsher crack sentences have fallen disproportionately on Black people. This racial disparity in sentencing is intolerable.
The EQUAL Act would treat crack and powder cocaine, well, equally. Best of all, the bill would allow people who are still in prison serving crack sentences under the old disparity to go back to court and request a new sentence. The EQUAL Act would reunite thousands of families!
The EQUAL Act goes to the full House of Representatives for a vote next, and then must be passed by the Senate and signed by President Biden before it can become law. The fight isn’t even close to over yet.
Please help today by asking your members of Congress to pass the EQUAL Act this year: https://secure.everyaction.com/7pBcjnUmm0e7KIQzKvHSww2
Eliminating the crack-powder sentencing disparity may seem like a small reform, but it would be a huge victory for criminal justice and racial justice. It’s never too late to right a wrong.
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