The NAACP was both saddened and offended by Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s call for Congress to override the decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to apply their May 2007 decision to reduce the recommended mandatory minimum sentencing range for conviction of possession of crack cocaine retroactive to those already in prison.

“Attorney General Mukasey’s characterization of people currently in prison for crack cocaine convictions, and of the impact that a potential reduction in their sentences could have on our communities, is not only inaccurate and disingenuous, but it is alarmist and plays on the worst fears and stereotypes many Americans had of crack cocaine users in the 1980s,” said NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary O. Shelton.

“The fact that a federal judge will be called to review every case individually and take into account if there were other factors involved in the conviction, whether it be the use of a gun, violence, death or the defendant’s criminal history before determining if the retroactivity can apply, appears to have eluded the Attorney General,” Shelton added. “Furthermore, because more than 82 percent of those currently in prison for federal crack cocaine convictions are African Americans and 96 percent are racial or ethnic minorities, the NAACP is deeply concerned at the Attorney General’s callous characterization that many of the people in question are ‘violent gang members’.”

The NAACP has steadfastly opposed the mandatory minimum for crack cocaine possession and the disparity in sentences for crack and powder cocaine convictions. The result of a 1986 federal law has been a huge, 100 to 1 disparity between the penalty for possession of crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

“The crack / powder cocaine sentencing disparity continues to place more African Americans and Latinos behind bars for much longer periods of time,” continued Shelton, “despite the fact that the two drugs are pharmacologically indistinguishable.”

Director Shelton has repeatedly testified before the US Sentencing Commission and other bodies in support of eliminating the crack / powder disparity. Last November he testified in support of retroactivity. Changes in sentencing have been applied retroactively in the cases of marijuana, LSD and oxycodone – all of which benefited groups other than African Americans. To not apply the sentencing changes for crack cocaine retroactively would perpetuate, and perhaps even intensify, the sense of injustice felt by African American and other communities of color.

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its more than half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities and monitors of equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.