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Feature
Story:
Baseball
Legend Willie Mays Aikens Released Under
Retroactivity Amendment
By
Zerline Jennings
Willie Mays Aikens, former first baseman for the
Kansas City Royals, made baseball history when
he became the first player to have a pair of
two-homer games in the 1980 World Series. Years
later he made another kind of history when a
longstanding addiction to cocaine ended his
baseball career and ultimately led to a nearly
21-year sentence for selling crack cocaine to an
undercover officer. Finally, in 2008, he again
made headlines when a federal judge reduced his
lengthy prison term to 14 years as a result of
the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent
adjustment to the crack cocaine sentencing
guidelines. Aikens was released in
June.
"They used my case as an example to show that
crack sentencing was cruel and unusual
punishment," said Aikens in an interview with
WHNS-TV in South Carolina. "I'm glad that after
spending 14 years in prison, something good came
out of
this."
Sentencing reform advocates utilized Aikens'
story to illustrate the unjust sentencing and
racial disparities between crack and powder
cocaine. After being convicted of attempting to
purchase cocaine in 1983, his addiction
eventually led to his suspension from major
league baseball. He returned to Kansas City ,
after playing ball in Mexico, but continued to
battle his addiction, which was quickly ruining
his personal life as it had done his baseball
career.
Kansas
City authorities were aware of Aikens'
involvement with drugs. In December 1993, a
female undercover officer established a
friendship with Aikens and subsequently asked
him to obtain crack cocaine for her on several
occasions. On at least one occasion, the
undercover officer specifically asked him to
cook powder cocaine into crack
cocaine.
Entrapment and
Mandatory Minimums
With this evidence,
the U.S. Attorney's office charged Aikens with
multiple counts of trafficking crack cocaine.
Because of harsher sentencing penalties for
using and dealing crack, his sentence for
selling 2.2 ounces of crack cocaine was treated
as though equivalent to selling 15 pounds of
powder cocaine.
Click here to read
more.
www.CrackTheDisparity.com |
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Editor's
Note:
Welcome to the inaugural edition of
the Crack the Disparity Coalition's quarterly
e-newsletter. We unveil this publication on an
important day, the 22nd anniversary of Len Bias'
death - a young man at the apex of a promising
basketball career, whose drug overdose fueled
the passage of the harsh sentencing law this
coalition seeks to change.
This
newsletter is designed to maintain the momentum
that is propelling reform by keeping advocates
updated on news and events related to
eliminating the crack cocaine disparity. This
newsletter can also be accessed at http://www.crackthedisparity.com/
where additional advocacy resources and
information can be
found. |
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 By
Nkechi Taifa, Esq.
In
1994, the U.S. Sentencing Commission issued a
call for public comment on laws creating a
differential in sentencing between crack and
powder cocaine offenses. The federal law,
passed after the cocaine-induced death of
basketball star Len Bias, requires a mandatory
minimum five year sentence for a first time
offender's simple possession of five grams of
crack cocaine. It takes trafficking in 100
times as much powder cocaine - 500 grams - to
trigger the same five year sentence. This
has come to be known as the 100:1 quantity
disparity between crack and powder
cocaine. Click here to read
more.
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Crack
Cocaine Legislative Update
By
Kara Gotsch
Since
the judiciary subcommittees on crime in the U.S.
House and Senate held hearings on crack cocaine
sentencing reform in February, legislative
momentum has slowed in Congress. Even with a
total of seven reform bills pending, no
committee has held a vote on the bills and none
are currently planned. Now is the time to
remind Congress that their constituents demand a
fairer sentencing structure that eliminates the
quantity disparity between crack and powder
cocaine and limits the excessive penalties for
low-level drug offenses. Public pressure
is essential to garner Congress's support for
reform and move legislation along. Click here to read
more.
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Grassroots
Agenda: June, July, August
By
Calli Schiller
As
Congress prepares to adjourn for the July 4th
and August recesses, now is an excellent time
for you to plan grassroots activities centered
in the legislators' home-districts. While
some Members of Congress (MOC) use these
recesses to vacation with their families, many
legislators are working in their district
offices. This presents an excellent
opportunity for in-district meetings, town-hall
meetings and site visits. Click here to read
more. |
A
Theological Basis for Ending the Sentencing
Disparity
 By
Bill Mefford
The
Faith in Action Criminal Justice Reform Working
Group, which I co-lead, is made up of faith
organizations from across the religious and
political spectrums. Groups came together to
help achieve passage of the Second Chance Act --
a bill providing assistance for prisoners'
reentry -- and we found a number of other issues
on which we share values. Our goal is to
bring crucial reforms to the criminal justice
system and we have identified the current crack
and powder cocaine sentencing disparity as
grossly unjust and in long overdue need of
change.
With 2.3 million people
currently incarcerated in the United States, and
the numbers only climbing, communities are not
safer and the flow of drugs into our communities
has not been curbed. Long mandatory minimum
sentences deny both judicial discretion as well
as necessary treatment for those who suffer from
addiction as the root cause of their criminal
behavior. Click here to read
more.
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 July
12-17:
99th Annual Convention of the NAACP
in Cincinnati, OH (featuring workshops on crack
cocaine reform and practice)
July
23-27: UNITY Journalists of Color 4th
Quadrennial Convention and Career Fair, Chicago,
IL (featuring workshop on draconian sentencing
laws)
July 26-August 2,
2008: National Bar Association 83rd Annual
Convention and Exhibits, Houston,
TX
September 24-27,
2008: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
38th Annual Legislative Conference, Washington,
D.C.
September
26-September 28, 2008: Critical Resistance 10th Anniversary
Celebration and International Conference and
Strategy Session, Oakland,
CA
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The
Crack the Disparity Coalition includes the
American Bar Association,
American Civil
Liberties Union,
Break
the Chains, Drug Policy Alliance,
National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People,
National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers,
Open
Society Policy Center,
Restoring Dignity,
Inc.,
Students
for Sensible Drug
Policy,
The
Sentencing Project,
and
United
Methodist Church, General Board of Church and
Society. |
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