April 28, 2022–Due Process Institute joined a coalition of leading law enforcement, faith-based, civil rights, conservative & progressive organizations to urge the Senate to bring the EQUAL Act to a floor vote. This legislation would finally and fully eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses at the federal level and would allow courts to consider applications for resentencing of past cases.
The current 18-to-1 disparity is not grounded in science; crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug, and one is no more harmful than the other. Roughly 90 percent of individuals incarcerated for crack offenses at the federal level are Black evidencing one of the worst racial injustices in federal law. The impact of this disparity is pervasive and offers no benefit to public safety. For these reasons, the EQUAL Act enjoys broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, as well as unprecedented endorsements from national and local law enforcement, conservative groups, faith leaders, and civil rights organizations.
The EQUAL Act corrects misguided policy from 35 years ago and would continue the important bipartisan progress Congress has made to create a fairer and more effective federal justice system. We urge the advancement of the EQUAL Act to the Senate floor as soon as possible, as the Senate considers bipartisan criminal justice reforms.