By Kaylee Pearlman
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Cory Booker, and Dick Durbin Thursday reintroduced the bipartisan Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act, along with Rep. Kelly Armstrong and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
The EQUAL Act, according to Booker, is designed to, “eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.”
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cynthis Lummic (R-WY) and Rand Paul (R-KY), joined Booker and Durbin as cosponsors in the Senate.
In the House of Representatives, Booker said Don Bacon (R-NE) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) will be joining as cosponsors.
According to Booker, “the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, at one point as high as 100 to 1, helped fuel the mass incarceration epidemic.”
Booker quoted the U.S. Sentencing Commission from Fiscal Year 2021, when it noted “77.6 percent of crack cocaine trafficking offenders were Black, whereas most powder cocaine trafficking offenders were either white or Hispanic.”
Senator Booker charged, “It is unjust that…baseless and unscientific sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine have contributed to the explosion of mass incarceration in the United States…and disproportionately impacted poor people, Black and Brown people, and people fighting menthol illness.”
Senator Booker finishes, “This bipartisan legislation will help right the wrongs of our nation’s failed War on Drugs and reform our broken criminal justice system.”
Senator Durbin also released a statement, and said, “The crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity disproportionately impacts people of color, with 81 percent of those convicted of federal crack offenses from 2015 to 2019 being Black,” calling it a “bipartisan bill that significantly reduced the racial disparity in cocaine sentencing.”
The senator added, “it’s time that we fully eliminate this injustice once and for all…I’m joining Senator Booker in introducing the EQUAL Act to get rid of this discriminatory sentencing disparity for good.”
Representative Armstrong commented, “Eliminating the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity is a step toward applying equal justice under the law.”
Added Armstrong, “The EQUAL Act is sound, bipartisan criminal justice reform….it’s long overdue that we pass this bill and finally end the disparity to make a real difference for families across the nation.”
Jeffries argued, “The EQUAL Act will help reverse engineer the tragic legacy of the failed war on drugs which has devastated lives, families and communities.”
Jeffries added, “There is no justification for treating powder cocaine differently from crack cocaine offenses. The EQUAL Act is a critical step toward making the promise of equal justice for all a reality.”
