this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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It’s wirth noting that the majority of social indicators gave the impression that the “bad” crime bills of the 1990s were very effective and it’s only later that we realize the actual causes of the decline in crime were the legalization of abortion (USA only) and the removal of lead from paint/gasoline. In other words were you alive at the time and not involved directly in social sciences you likely would have supported those same bills.
Yes and, for a very specific example, Joseph Biden went before congress in 2010 and 2011 to give a speech asking for congress to completely remove the Crack to Powder sentencing disparity that disproportionately effected African Americans, which he wrote in 1995, citing that expert opinions led him to the inaccurate conclusion that crack was more dangerous. The reason I bring this up is because clearly not every action was done out of hate or malice but simply because politicians can be less informed and lack scientific literacy.
Still, very saddening that the results of these actions have empowered a private prison system that bleeds this nation like vampires.
Yup, many people believed crack was much worse than cocaine. No one could ever answer my question “When making crack do I end up with a greater mass of crack than the mass of the cocaine I started with or do you get less?”. I always wondered this as I suspect 1 lb of coke makes more than 1 lb of crack so the penalty never made sense
When made into crack it should be a higher mass since you end up with salt residue from the process. The common use of sodium bicarbonate with coke, yields Coc-H+Cl− + NaHCO3 → Coc + H2O + CO2 + NaCl, where H2O and CO2 are removed by the heating process but NaCl remains, so effectively gaining Na ion. So for every gram of coke processed into crack you gain ~0.076 grams of sodium.
Thank you so if you end up with more crack than the quantity if coke you started with the only reason for that law is racism.