Abstract
Nearly eighty percent of individuals in federal prison for drug offenses are Black or Latino. The War on Drugs, a global campaign started by President Nixon, had an objectively moral goal: reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States. However, in reality, the results of the campaign sparked inequalities in sentencing regimes, which has led to a disproportionate incarceration of minority groups. Most notably, there was a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crimes involving crack cocaine (crack) and crimes involving powder cocaine. While this distinction historically claimed to address the theory that powder cocaine has more dangerous health effects; it was instead a notorious façade for incarcerating Black Americans and other minority groups at higher rates than non-minority groups. Although legislative efforts sought to address this disparity after studies disproved the original justifications for the differences in sentences, the racial divide remains.
Recommended Citation
Kelly A. McLaughlin,
Balancing Discretion and Fairness: The Potential Pitfalls of Allowing Judges Too Much Discretion in Sentencing,
88 Mo. L. Rev.
(2024)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol88/iss4/10