By: Billy Beerslugger
So I’m reading some stuff today and come across that the president is pushing for more lenient crack cocaine laws. Now yea I’ll agree that the law is a little scewed, putting crack cocaine offenders away longer for less amounts, I get that.
What I do not get is why we are lessening Crack Cocaine sentences and not lengthening Cocaine sentences. Seems logical to me. Yes I do have sympathy for the “Treatment Movement”, where instead of throwing people in jail, putting them into rehab. I do think that some people come out of prison worse than they were before they went in.
Some statistics I’ve seen suggest a better rate of non-repeat offending after rehab as opposed to jail. But statistics can be misleading and subjective in terms of the people doing the survey as well as the people chosen for the sample.
Federal law currently has a system in place which 5 grams of crack gets the same minimum sentence as 500 grams of coke, according to the article in the link above. So there does need to be some reform, but I’m not sure lessening sentences is the way to go.
I understand the penal system is overcrowded. I understand it is a lot of money to have someone in jail for 5 years. Is that the answer though to the Crack Cocaine problem, reduced sentences, more crackheads on the street? It’s bad enough that the people selling the stuff and the people in the neighborhoods they own will not narc anyone out, now you’re just making it more of an incentive to not talk to the police.
To me it’s kind of like telling a kid “If you do XYZ you’re going to be grounded for 2 weeks instead of 5”. Well now the kid is going to think about the situation a little more. Maybe he should steal the case of beer from his dad, 2 weeks of being grounded isn’t that bad.
No the current laws are not fair, but boost up sentences on Cocaine and not lessen sentences on Crack.
But I could be wrong….