Legislative · Federal

Anti-Drug Abuse Act writes the 100-to-1 crack sentencing disparity into law

Why this rating

Signed October 27, 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act set federal mandatory minimums for crack cocaine at 100 times the threshold for powder cocaine, though the U.S. Sentencing Commission found no pharmacological basis for the gap. Rated -1: the statute is facially race-neutral, but its 100:1 ratio produced a documented, large-scale disparity in incarceration — more than 80% of those sentenced under the crack provisions were Black — a harm via disparate impact rather than explicit text.

Summary

Signed October 27, 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act set federal mandatory minimums for crack cocaine at 100 times the threshold for powder cocaine, though the U.S. Sentencing Commission found no pharmacological basis for the gap. Rated -1: the statute is facially race-neutral, but its 100:1 ratio produced a documented, large-scale disparity in incarceration — more than 80% of those sentenced under the crack provisions were Black — a harm via disparate impact rather than explicit text.

Sources

• The Crack Sentencing Disparity and the Road to 1:1 — U.S. Sentencing Commission — official record · primary · historical

Rated under the published impact rubric. Direction records what a measure would do if fully effective; force records how far it has actually travelled. Neither is inferred — both trace to the sources above. Think something here is wrong? Tell us and we will log the correction.

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