Federal Cocaine Offenses: An Analysis of Crack and Powder Penalties

Public debate over sentences for federal cocaine offenses has focused on the 100:1 differential in the amounts of powder and crack cocaine that trigger the 5-and 10-year mandatory minimum sentences. The 100:1 differential in powder and crack cocaine amounts at sentencing is commonly distorted to imply that sentences for crack cocaine are vastly greater than sentences for powder cocaine. A closer examination of the federal penalty structure for cocaine offenses reveals that the 100:1 differential is misleading. A facial comparison of the guideline ranges for equal amounts of crack and powder cocaine reveals that crack penalties range from 6.3 times greater to approximately equal to powder sentences. In order to determine how this facial disparity played out in actual sentences, the Office of Legal Policy (with assistance from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Criminal Division's Office of Policy and Legislation) conducted a number of different analyses of the federal sentencing data for cocaine offenses collected by the U.S. Sentencing Commission between 1996 and 2000.