Prominent Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, and Legal Policy Watchdogs to Host House Policy Briefing and Release Open Letter to Congress Calling for Cra

18 February 2006

A sign on letter will be released Thursday to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees requesting a review of twenty-year-old crack cocaine legislation during a House Policy Briefing.

The sign-on letter states, "The twentieth anniversary of statutory crack penalties is the perfect time to revisit and finally correct the gross unfairness that has been the legacy of the 100:1 ratio." It takes 100 times as much powder cocaine to elicit the same penalty as one gram of crack cocaine.

Quoted is the US Sentencing Commission's report which states, "Revising this one sentencing rule would do more to reduce the sentencing gap between blacks and whites than any other single policy change, and would dramatically improve the fairness of the federal sentencing system."

It concludes, "Despite the enormous cost to taxpayers and society, the crack-powder ratio has resulted in no appreciable impact on the cocaine trade. We call for hearings without delay, and the enactment of legislation consistent with the Sentencing Commission's 1995 recommendation that equalizes the quantity triggers and places the focus of federal cocaine drug enforcement on major traffickers, where it should be."

To view the full sign-on letter visit http://www.opensocietypolicycenter.org

* The House Policy Briefing will be held on Thursday, February 16 at 9:00 a.m. in room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building and will include remarks by Congress Members, Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, Jesselyn McCurdy, Legislative Council to the ACLU Washington Office, and Eric Sterling, Former Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 1979- 1989.

Please RSVP to justice_roundtable@yahoo.com or call 202-721-5672

The Justice Roundtable is a broad network of criminal justice, civil and human rights, legal and faith-based organizations. The Justice Roundtable works to educate the public and advocate around issues which span the criminal justice continuum from law enforcement to sentencing to prison reform and reentry.

Contact: Wendy Sefsaf

Direct: 202-721-5642

Source: prnewswire

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