The topic of this paper and the item of discussion in our sections is the question of whether the penalties for crack and powder cocaine should be the same or should they stay the way they are now. Right now possession of five hundred grams of powder cocaine has the same penalty as possession of five grams of crack cocaine. The critics view is that this law is discriminative to African Americans because African American drug dealers prefer crack to powder cocaine, therefore causing harsher penalties for African Americans who deal crack and Caucasian Americans who deal cocaine. This is a humorous question because of the way these two drugs powder cocaine and crack cocaine are just thrown around like regular everyday topics. These two drugs in my view should be given the same penalties. They both impose a huge decay in our society, the site of a crack head living in a run down abandoned house because they can not afford even a roof over their heads because of the scientifically proven addiction to these drugs which takes away most of their money. There should not be a question of whether more white people should be penalized harsher just like the African Americans. The only question that should be asked is that which of these drugs causes more decay of a person's life.
             In 1993, Judge Lyle Strom, the chief judge of the U.S. District court in Nebraska, gave four crack dealers who were African Americans to prison terms that were a good deal shorter than those called for under the guidelines. The judge explained his sentence by saying that basically African Americans were being treated unfairly and were given longer sentences than those received by Caucasian Americans who deal in powder cocaine. A judge of appeals stated that even though the judge believed the penalties to be harsher for African Americans he still should not have given them shorter sentences. This judge was acting on his own beliefs rather than the guidelines...