WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The death of George Floyd and the resulting protests across the country are forcing the nation to reckon with racial justice issues, including racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

African Americans make up a larger share of the U.S. inmate population than their share of the U.S. population overall, according to data compiled by the Pew Research Initiative.

A similar disparity can historically be found at the state level in North Carolina, according to the Prison Policy Center.



Federal Criminal Justice Reforms

When it comes to the federal prison system, Washington lawmakers have begun to reexamine decades-old laws that disproportionately impacted minorities.

One of those measures is the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which was signed by then-President Ronald Reagan after it gained bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

“Drug use extracts a high cost on America - cost of suffering and unhappiness, particularly among the young,” Reagan said at a signing ceremony in October of 1986.

The law included new mandatory minimums for drugs and set up a sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

Kara Gotsch with The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice research organization that advocates for reducing mass incarcerations, notes that the changes severely impacted African Americans.

“Between 80 and 90 percent of the people in federal prison for crack cocaine offenses were African American,” Gotsch said. “This huge sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine just exemplified why people believe the criminal justice system is racist.”

Fast forward two decades, leaders in Washington began to slowly chip away at this and other ‘tough on crime’ standards.

In 2008, then-President George W. Bush signed the Second Chance Act, aimed at helping prisoners re-enter society. In 2010, lawmakers approved the Fair Sentencing Act, which worked to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.
And then, in 2018, lawmakers passed the First Step Act, which, among other things, allowed the new sentencing standards for cocaine from 2010 to be applied retroactively to those already in prison.

Data compiled by The Sentencing Project shows that in the first year after the First Step Act was signed into law, more than 2,000 prisoners benefited from that retroactive provision. Of those, the overwhelming number of prisoners receiving sentence reductions were black.

Taken together, though, Gotsch says these recent laws have only scratched the surface.

“Since about 2013, we've seen … between 40,000 and 50,000 person reduction in the federal prison population, which is very significant and I don’t want to undermine that,” she said. “We still have too many people serving very long prison sentences in the federal prison system.”



North Carolina State Criminal Justice Reforms

At the state level, North Carolina lawmakers are also working on prison reforms.

The General Assembly recently gave wide bipartisan support to two pieces of legislation. The governor signed both into law.

One of the new laws - the Second Chance Act - allows people charged with certain nonviolent crimes to have their records expunged after a period of time.

“The goal of the criminal justice system should be to deter and rehabilitate, not allow a minor offense to snowball in blocking someone from getting a job, an education or quality housing,” said Sen. Danny Britt, R-Columbus County, one of the bill’s sponsors.

The other new law, called the North Carolina First Step Act, gives judges more discretion on certain drug crimes, allowing them to go around mandatory minimums.

“If they’re addicted, then they need to have drug treatment. If they have a small amount of this
drug, they’re not automatically charged with trafficking,” said Rep. Holly Grange, R-New Hanover County, one of the bill’s sponsors.



Police Reform

As protesters across the country took to the streets in recent months, many called for police reforms.

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties outlined potential ways to reform law enforcement and, in some cases, hold them accountable.

In an interview, Rep. GK Butterfield, D-1st District, stressed the urgency behind the need for ation. “We cannot continue to ignore civil rights abuses in this country. Too many people are dying at the hands of the police,” he said.

RELATED: N.C. Lawmakers Weigh Competing Police Reform Plans

However, House and Senate leaders could not come to terms on a single plan and the bills floundered.

With the coronavirus surging and an election just around the corner, it seems unlikely lawmakers will act anytime soon.