Legislative · Federal
Fair Sentencing Act cuts the crack-powder disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1
- Direction
- +1 — benefit to Freedmen
- Force
- 1.00 — enacted, vetoed, or final
- Status
- Decided
- Date
- 2010-08-03
Why this rating
Signed August 3, 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the crack-versus-powder cocaine sentencing ratio from 100:1 to 18:1 and eliminated the mandatory minimum for simple crack possession. Rated +1: a real, partial repair of the 1986 disparity that had fallen overwhelmingly on the lineage — meaningful, but a reduction rather than a repeal, so magnitude is capped.
Summary
Signed August 3, 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the crack-versus-powder cocaine sentencing ratio from 100:1 to 18:1 and eliminated the mandatory minimum for simple crack possession. Rated +1: a real, partial repair of the 1986 disparity that had fallen overwhelmingly on the lineage — meaningful, but a reduction rather than a repeal, so magnitude is capped.
Sources
- President Obama Signs the Fair Sentencing Act — The White House (archived) — govt release · 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.