Pubdate: Sun, 09 Apr 2000
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times
Contact:  http://www.sptimes.com/
Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html
Author: Robert Batey
Note: Robert Batey, a professor of criminal law at Stetson University 
College of law, coordinates the St. Petersburg chapter of Families Against 
Mandatory Minimums (FAMM).

LAWS ON DRUG SENTENCING INSULT JUSTICE.

As you file your federal income tax returns this month, look at what you 
pay and think what you could buy with the $264,000 being spent to 
incarcerate Floridian Brenda Valencia, who is serving a mandatory 12-year 
federal drug sentence.

At 19, Valencia drove her aunt to a house in Palm Beach, where the aunt 
sold seven kilos of cocaine and carried a concealed weapon. The cocaine 
purchaser implied that Valencia knew the drug had been in the trunk, so he 
could reduce his own sentence. Valencia received a mandatory 10- year 
sentence for conspiracy to sell cocaine and an additional two years because 
her aunt had a weapon.

Even the judge was appalled by the sentence. "This is the perfect example 
of why the minimum mandatory sentences and the sentencing guidelines are 
not only absurd, but an insult to justice. This young lady does not need to 
be sentenced to 151 months without parole; however, the law is the law, and 
we're all bound to obey it. But it's absolutely ridiculous to impose this 
sentence in this case, considering the degree of participation that this 
defendant had in this crime."

In 1998, it cost taxpayers $1,672,000,000 to incarcerate Valencia and 
76,000 others serving mandatory minimum drug sentences. That cost - based 
on $22,000 per prisoner per year - has risen since 1986, when Congress 
adopted mandatory minimums. Then drug offenders made up 38 percent of the 
federal prison population; now it's 60 percent. Fifty-seven percent of the 
current population are first-time offenders; 88 percent are non-violent 
offenders.

Don't get me wrong. We should punish those seriously involved in the drug 
trade, and we'll always have prison costs. But in any justice system, the 
punishment should justify the costs, and it should fit the crime. With 
mandatory minimum sentences, that doesn't happen. Instead judges, such as 
in Valencia's case, are forced to mete out cookie-cutter sentences to each 
defendant, regardless of mitigating circumstances.

Fairness also comes into question in comparing federal drug sentences 
against those of other federal crimes. In 1997 those serving drug sentences 
averaged seven years, crimes of sexual abuse six years, assault three years 
and manslaughter 2.5 years.

The only circumstances that can lower a mandatory sentence is snitching on 
others. For top-of-the-ladder drug dealers, that's a good deal. But those 
on the bottom rung, usually first-time non-violent offenders who have no 
one to implicate, end up with long, federally mandated sentences.

Voices opposed to mandatory minimums keep rising. Supreme Court Chief 
Justice William Rehnquist, known for his conservative law-and-order 
opinions, has called them "a good example of the law of unintended 
consequences." Also Opposing them are such diverse groups as the National 
Association of Veteran Police Officers, the Federal Courts Study Committee, 
the American Bar Association, the American Psychological Association, the 
American Civil Liberties Union and each of the federal judicial circuits.

Nonetheless, Congress, ever wary of appearing soft on crime, is considering 
a proposal to increase the penalties for those involved with powder 
cocaine. Despite already harsh penalties for cocaine, the new law would 
mean even longer sentences and more prison beds.

So, 14 years after their adoption, mandatory minimum drug sentences 
continue to fill our prisons with low-level, non-violent offenders. Judges 
are forced to impose mandatory minimum sentences in nearly all cases. And - 
surprise! - we taxpayers keep footing the bill.

Robert Batey, a professor of criminal law at Stetson University College of 
law, coordinates the St. Petersburg chapter of Families Against Mandatory 
Minimums (FAMM).
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