Dick Durbin loves poor, urban people so much he doesn't want them to suffer so much for their crack addiction.
The Senate recently passed a bill, sponsored by Durbin, that would raise the amount of crack needed to trigger a five-year mandatory minimum sentence from a federal judge.
Why? Because poor people smoke crack! And a poor, chalky-lipped tower-dweller with a little bit of crack goes to prison for longer than a collar-popping, Beamer-driving WASP with a man bag full of bumpables.
This undermines trust in the justice system! And probably plays into that whole the-man-made-crack-to-kill-poor-people-or-get-them-locked-up conspiracy theory.
Oddly, Durbin's bill would also seem to incentivize crack smokers to smoke more crack. Or at least ensure they stay on the streets longer! Yay?
