Cocaine in the United States
Cocaine Laws in relation to Crime and Race
Cocaine Laws is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: Sentence disparities between powder and crack cocaine were enacted in 1986 under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. This act imposed strict penalties for simple possession and/or trafficking of crack cocaine as a result of the crack epidemic of the early 1980s. A federal mandatory minimum sentence structure with very different penalties for crack and powder cocaine was enacted as part of the War on Drugs, which was based on the deterrence model of punishment that prevailed during the 1980s. This section reviews the nature of the problem related to cocaine laws, their impact on African Americans, and attempts to equalize the cocaine and crack cocaine penalties. One aspect that is of concern, when examining the disproportionate sentencing of African Americans, is whether cocaine users are more likely to be White than African American.
Resources
Notes and References
- Entry about Cocaine Laws in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime