From the Griddle's Capital Bureau comes this Washington Post story by Darryl Fears about how the U.S. Sentencing Commission's decision to stop charging criminals convicted of possession of crack cocaine with longer sentences than people charged with possession of powdered cocaine.
Aikens received more than 15 years for possession of 64 grams of crack -- about the weight of a large Snickers bar. To receive an equivalent sentence, he would have had to possess nearly 6 1/2 kilos -- more than 14 pounds -- of powder cocaine.
"You can supply a whole neighborhood with 6 1/2 kilos," Aikens said by telephone from prison, where he is in the 13th year of his sentence.
I've played basketball with cops and government agents. Nice guys, no dirty players in the bunch.
Not one was able to explain to me why possession and use of crack cocaine results in disproportionately longer sentences than powdered cocaine. Not one.
By government standards, pretty quick.
Not one was able to explain to me why possession and use of crack cocaine results in disproportionately longer sentences than powdered cocaine. Not one.
Because, you know, nothing is more nonviolent than cocaine trafficking.
That's probably just a back of the envelope calculation by Aikens.
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