100:1 Crack-Powder Sentencing Disparity Continues to Incarcerate Black Americans

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986's 100:1 crack-to-powder cocaine sentencing disparity remained in effect throughout the decade. Crack defendants — 82% of whom were Black — received mandatory minimums equal to powder cocaine defendants holding 100 times as much. A U.S. Sentencing Commission study in 2002 confirmed the disparity produced dramatically longer sentences for Black defendants than white defendants convicted of functionally equivalent drug offenses.