Sentencing commission examines crack cocaine disparity

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A criminal justice agency says a disproportionate number of blacks in Oklahoma are getting lengthy prison terms for drug trafficking. <br/><br/>Criminal Justice Resource Center officials

Thursday, July 28th 2005, 8:47 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A criminal justice agency says a disproportionate number of blacks in Oklahoma are getting lengthy prison terms for drug trafficking.

Criminal Justice Resource Center officials says there is a disparity in the amount of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine that constitutes as drug trafficking.

C-J-R-C Director K-C Moon says crack is the form of cocaine that blacks are more likely to use.

Oklahoma law requires a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence for anyone convicted of possessing five grams of crack cocaine. The threshold for the powder version is 28 grams.

About 41 percent of all trafficking convictions in Oklahoma are black offenders, though blacks make up less than 10 percent of the population.

Moon says black offenders are getting sentenced five times as much as white offenders.