Court Opinion

ID: 9483752
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:30:36.699223+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:49.232368
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring separately.
Today the court upholds, in the face of due process and equal protection challenges, the Sentencing Commission’s decision to penalize possession of a given weight of cocaine base (crack) at a level equivalent to possession of a weight of cocaine 100 times greater. Given the precedents of this court, I find myself obliged to concur in that holding. See, e.g., United States v. Buckner, 894 F.2d 975, 978-80 (8th Cir.1990) (upholding 100:1 ratio against due process challenge); United States v. House, 939 F.2d 659, 664 (8th Cir.1991) (upholding 100:1 ratio against equal protection challenge). I write separately to note the racial injustice flowing from this policy.
One of the goals in establishing the Sentencing Guidelines was to reduce racial disparities in sentencing. United States v. Lattimore, 974 F.2d 971, 974 (8th Cir.1992) (quoting Sentencing Commission Chairperson Wilkins). Despite this aim, the unexplained difference in the average sentence for African-Americans as compared to Caucasians has actually increased from a difference of 28% in 1984 to 49% in 1990. Federal Judicial Center, The General Effect of Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms 20-21 (1991). Guidelines *1215§ 2D1.1(a)(3) aggravates these differences because African-Americans constitute a much higher proportion of cocaine base offenders than cocaine offenders. See State v. Russell, 477 N.W.2d 886, 887 n. 1 (Minn.1991) (banc) (97% of Minnesotans charged with possession of cocaine base in 1991 were African-American, whereas 80% of those charged with possession of powder cocaine were Caucasian); ante at 1212 (defense study indicates 94% of those charged in Eastern District of Missouri with possession of cocaine base were African-American, whereas only 55% of those charged with possession of powder cocaine were African-American). While the Sentencing Guidelines’ distinction between cocaine base offenders and cocaine offenders may not violate the equal protection clause because the racial discrepancies are not shown to be the result of intentional discrimination, it undermines the original aim of the Guidelines and should be reconsidered.1
Further, I reiterate my opinion that these racial discrepancies in sentencing, unforeseen by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the Guidelines, may constitute an acceptable basis for some downward departure in sentencing under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b). See Lattimore, 974 F.2d at 977 (Bright, J., dissenting).

. My concern for racial disparity in cocaine base and cocaine-related sentencing extends to the statutory mandatory minimum sentences imposed by Congress equating, for example, offenses involving five grams of cocaine base with those involving 500 grams of cocaine (a 1:100 ratio). See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(ii) and (iii) (1988). I believe Congress, in the first instance, should address the racial inequity in the formulation of cocaine base and cocaine sentences.