WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with Representatives Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House Democratic Leader, announced the reintroduction of the bipartisan Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act, legislation to eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.

Joining Booker and Durbin as original cosponsors on the EQUAL Act in the Senate are Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Rand Paul (R-KY). Joining Armstrong (R-ND) and Jeffries (D-NY) as original cosponsors on the EQUAL Act in the House are Representatives Don Bacon (R-NE) and Bobby Scott (D-VA).

The sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine, at one point as high as 100 to 1, helped fuel the mass incarceration epidemic.

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, in Fiscal Year 2021, 77.6% of crack cocaine trafficking offenders were Black, whereas most powder cocaine trafficking offenders were either white or Hispanic.

"It is unjust that, for decades, baseless and unscientific sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine have contributed to the explosion of mass incarceration in the United States and disproportionately impacted poor people, Black and Brown people, and people fighting mental illness,” said Senator Booker.

“This bipartisan legislation will help right the wrongs of our nation’s failed War on Drugs and reform our broken criminal justice system.”

“The crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity disproportionally impacts people of color, with 81 percent of those convicted of federal crack offenses from 2015 to 2019 being Black. I worked alongside the Obama Administration in 2010 to pass my Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, a bipartisan bill that significantly reduced the racial disparity in cocaine sentencing. But it’s time that we fully eliminate this injustice once and for all,” said Senator Durbin.

“I’m joining Senator Booker in introducing the EQUAL Act to get rid of this discriminatory sentencing disparity for good.”

"Eliminating the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity is a step toward applying equal justice under the law,” said Representative Armstrong.

“The EQUAL Act is sound, bipartisan criminal justice reform, that received overwhelming support in the House last Congress. It’s long overdue that we pass this bill and finally end the disparity to make a real difference for families across the nation.”

“The EQUAL Act will help reverse engineer the tragic legacy of the failed war on drugs which has devastated lives, families and communities,” said Representative Jeffries.

“There is no justification for treating powder cocaine differently than crack cocaine offenses. There is no pharmacological difference and no significant chemical difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, and they both cause identical effects. I am grateful to Senators Booker and Graham and Congressman Armstrong for reintroducing this important bill and to the Democratic and Republican Members in both Houses of Congress who are committed to burying the failed war on drugs. The EQUAL Act is a critical step toward making the promise of equal justice for all a reality.”

Background After the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, sentencing for crack and powder cocaine offenses differed vastly. For instance, until 2010, someone convicted of distributing 5 grams of crack cocaine served the same 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence as someone convicted of distributing 500 grams of powder cocaine.

Over the years, this 100:1 sentencing disparity has been widely criticized as lacking scientific justification. Furthermore, the crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity has disproportionately impacted people of color.

The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Senator Durbin, passed in 2010 during the Obama administration and reduced the crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity from 100:1 to 18:1. In 2018, Senators Booker and Durbin and Representative Jeffries were instrumental in crafting the First Step Act, which made the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. Booker, Durbin, Armstrong, and Jeffries first introduced the EQUAL Act to eliminate the disparity once and for all in 2021.

In September 2021, the legislation passed the House with a wide bipartisan margin, 361-66. In the Senate, the legislation ultimately attracted 11 Republican and 24 Democratic cosponsors.