NATION : Crack Law Biased, Judge Rules
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MINNEAPOLIS — A state law providing for a four-year sentence for first-time crack users and probation for first-time users of powdered cocaine is racially biased--and thus unconstitutional, a judge has ruled.
Hennepin County District Judge Pamela Alexander ruled Thursday that state sentencing guidelines are flawed, saying there is no logical reason people convicted for possession of crack should be treated any differently from those convicted of possessing any other form of cocaine.
Assistant Hennepin County Atty. Chuck Sweetland said that if the ruling is upheld, “it is going to make it impossible to prosecute the vast majority of urban crack cases.”
Attorneys for five suspects who challenged the crack law said 92% of people arrested on charges of possession of crack in 1988 were black, while 85% of people arrested on charges of possessing powdered cocaine were white.
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