华盛顿-司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)已经采取行动，结束对不同形式的可卡因施加更严厉惩罚的量刑差异，这种差异加剧了美国司法系统中的种族不平等。
几十年来，联邦法律对快克可卡因施加了更严厉的判决，尽管它在科学上与粉末可卡因没有区别，但造成了“毫无根据的种族差异”，加兰周五在给联邦检察官的备忘录中写道。"它们是同一种毒品的两种形态，粉末很容易转化为快克可卡因。"
随着法律的修改在国会停滞不前，加兰指示非暴力、低级别案件的检察官提出指控，以避免因少量岩石可卡因而触发的强制性最低刑期。
民权领袖和刑事司法改革倡导者称赞加兰，尽管他们说，如果国会不采取行动，他的举动不会永久存在。
阿尔·夏普顿牧师在上世纪90年代领导了反对他称之为“不公平和带有种族色彩”的法律的游行，并称赞司法部的指示将在30天内生效。
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他在一份声明中表示:“这不仅是一项重大的起诉和判决决定，也是一项重大的民权决定。”。"这项政策的种族差异已经毁掉了一代人的家园和未来。"
联邦法律曾一度将一克可卡因和100克粉末状可卡因同等对待。国会在2010年缩小了这一差距，但并没有完全缩小。去年众议院通过了一项结束贫富差距的法案，但在参议院搁置了。
“这是将成千上万以黑人为主的男性送入联邦监狱系统的政策之一，”Dream.org集团政治战略副总裁雅诺斯·马顿说。"这对社区和家庭来说是毁灭性的."
尽管他对起诉实践的变化表示欢迎，但他指出，除非国会采取行动，否则这可能是暂时的。去年众议院在两党支持下通过的法案也将追溯适用于根据1986年通过的法律已经定罪的人。
但是参议院司法委员会最高共和党人、爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利说，加兰的举动危及关于这个问题的立法会谈。格拉斯利说，司法部长的“令人困惑和被误导的”指示相当于要求检察官无视现行法律。“这是司法部的错误决定，”加兰在一份声明中说。
强制最低限额政策出台之际，包括20世纪80年代末快克可卡因在内的非法药物的使用，伴随着全国范围内杀人和其他暴力犯罪的惊人飙升。
该法案是在一名NBA新兵死于可卡因诱发的心脏病发作后不久通过的。它对违反毒品法的人处以20年至终身监禁的强制性联邦刑罚，并对拥有和销售快克毒品的刑罚比对粉状可卡因的刑罚更严厉。
1986年反毒品滥用法案生效后，美国黑人入狱率激增。从1970年的每10万人中约600人增加到2000年的1808人。在同一时期，拉丁裔人口的监禁率从每10万人中208人上升到615人，而白人监禁率从每10万人中103人上升到242人。
“周五的声明反映了多年来的倡导已经推动了从毒品战争策略的转变，这种策略给边缘化群体带来了沉重的代价，并推高了全国的监禁率，而没有对重建社区的其他服务进行相应的投资，”变革之色总裁拉沙德·罗宾逊说。
“这是一个认识，这些法律旨在针对黑人和黑人社区，从来没有打算给社区所需的支持和投资类型，”他说。
Garland moves to end disparities in crack cocaine sentencing
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Merrick Garland has taken action to end sentencing disparities that have imposed harsher penalties for different forms of cocaine and worsened racial inequity in the U.S. justice system.
For decades federal law has imposed harsher sentences for crack cocaine even though it isn't scientifically different from powder cocaine, creating “unwarranted racial disparities,” Garland wrote in a memo Friday to federal prosecutors. “They are two forms of the same drug, with powder readily convertible into crack cocaine."
With changes to the law stalled in Congress, Garland instructed prosecutors in nonviolent, low-level cases to file charges that avoid the mandatory minimum sentences that are triggered for smaller amounts of rock cocaine.
Civil rights leaders and advocates for criminal justice change applauded Garland, though they said his move will not become permanent without action from Congress.
The Rev. Al Sharpton led marches in the 1990s against the laws he called “unfair and racially tinged” and applauded the Justice Department direction that takes effect within 30 days.
“This was not only a major prosecutorial and sentencing decision – it is a major civil rights decision,” he said in a statement. “The racial disparities of this policy have ruined homes and futures for over a generation.”
At one point, federal law treated a single gram of crack the same as 100 grams of powder cocaine. Congress shrunk that gap in 2010 but did not completely close it. A bill to end the disparity passed the House last year, but stalled in the Senate.
“This has been one of the policies that has sent thousands and thousands of predominantly Black men to the federal prison system,” said Janos Marton, vice-president of political strategy with the group Dream.org. “And that’s been devastating for communities and for families.”
While he welcomed the change in prosecution practices, he pointed out that unless Congress acts, it could be temporary. The bill that passed the House with bipartisan support last year would also be retroactive to apply to people already convicted under the law passed in 1986.
But the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, said Garland's move jeopardizes legislative talks on the issue. Grassley said the attorney general's “baffling and misguided” instructions amount to asking prosecutors to disregard current law. “This is the wrong decision for the Justice Department,” Garland said in a statement.
