Legislation to eliminate disparities for certain drug crimes has made its way through the California Legislature.
The measure, SB 1010, would “reduce the penalty for possession for sale of cocaine base to be the same as that for powder cocaine” and revises “the guidelines for probation eligibility for both the possession for sale of powder cocaine and cocaine base.”
The bill, titled the California Fair Sentencing Act, is authored by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles.
Opposition to the measure has surfaced from the California Narcotics Officers Association and California Police Chiefs Association.
The CPCA is quoted in the bill analysis as saying, “We believe that the preferable approach is to raise the penalties for powder cocaine trafficking to the same level that currently exists for trafficking in cocaine base … Although we support equalizing the penalty structures, we do not believe that drug traffickers — who visit real harm on communities — should be the beneficiaries of legislation that equalizes the penalty structure.”
Advocates for SB 1010 include Susan Burton, Michelle Alexander, Jonathan Simon and Dr. Joy Degrew. They suggest that for years disproportionate sentencing practices have targeted specific races. In her book, A New Way of Life, Burton wrote that, “For far too many years, we have had to watch harsh penalties applied disproportionately to black and brown urban communities.”
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports that from 2005 to 2010, statistics show that blacks accounted for 77.4 percent, Latinos 18.1 percent and whites less than 2 percent of the people who were convicted and sentenced to prison for the possession and sales of crack cocaine.
Delia de la Vara, vice president of the National Council for La Raza, California Region, told the ACLU, “Statistics don’t lie. Communities of color are treated differently within California’s judicial system, often subjected to harsher sentencing for essentially the same crimes as their white counterparts.”
Supporters of the bill include Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley.
After Assembly approval, SB 1010 advanced to the full Senate for final legislative action. On Sept. 29, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill.