Garland moves to end disparities in crack cocaine sentencing

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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. Garland wrote in a memo to federal prosecutors that powder and crack cocaine aren’t scientifically different, but that federal law has for decades treated them differently. Civil rights leaders and advocates for criminal justice changes say the laws have taken a heavy toll on Black communities. They applauded Garland’s changes but called for Congress to act and end sentencing disparities permanently.