Washington D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) released the following statement after the House on Wednesday passed S. 1789, the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The legislation changes a 1986 law under which a person convicted of crack cocaine possession received the same mandatory prison term as someone with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The legislation reduces that ratio to about 18-1.

 The bill will now go to the President’s desk for his signature.

“Some 25 years ago, in the attempt to address the rampant use of crack cocaine and reduce violent crime in urban communities throughout the country, Congress enacted laws that subjected an untold number of African Americans to unreasonably long prison terms for crack cocaine possession convictions,” Congresswoman Lee said. “The unfortunate reality is that the same law provided far more lenient prison terms for people arrested for the possession of powder cocaine.

“With the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act, we have started to move toward creating a more reasonable and balanced system of sentencing that reduces the disparity between prison sentences for crack and powder cocaine.  While more changes are needed in our drug sentencing guidelines, I do believe the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act is an important first step in reducing sentencing disparities that adversely affected African Americans. I will continue to work on this important matter until we achieve full equity by having a 1-1 fair sentencing system.

 “We must eliminate any form of discrimination faced by defendants based on the type of cocaine they are charged with possessing. Moreover, I am committed to addressing the root causes of drug use.”