Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 2005
Source: New Haven Register (CT)
Copyright: 2005, New Haven Register
Contact:  http://www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1281
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/292
Author: Gregory B. Hladky, Capitol Bureau Chief
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

COCAINE BILL WINS APPROVAL OF SENATE

HARTFORD -- A bill to equalize penalties between crack cocaine and
powdered cocaine in Connecticut won final legislative approval
Thursday largely because of concerns over the racial imbalance in
state prisons. The state Senate voted 21-16 to send the measure to
Gov. M. Jodi Rell. A spokesman for Rell said the governor wants to
"take a good hard look" at the controversial bill before deciding
whether to sign it into law.

Advertisement Click to learn more... Supporters of the bill argued
that the state's penalties for possession or sale of crack, which are
much tougher than for powdered cocaine, has helped create a
Connecticut prison system in which 72 percent of inmates are black or
Latino.

But opponents warned that equalizing the penalties would be sending
the message that Connecticut is going "soft on crack dealers" and
insisted the change would do little to correct the racial disparities
in prisons.

Current law sets the same mandatory minimum sentences for possession
or sale of half a gram of crack cocaine as for possession of an ounce
of powdered cocaine.

The bill approved by the General Assembly would equalize the
thresholds for triggering mandatory minimum sentences for both types
of cocaine at one ounce.

Critics of the current law say its discrepancies have contributed to
racial discrimination in sentencing, since crack is often called the
drug of choice for inner-city minorities while powdered cocaine is
favored by more affluent white drug abusers.

"That racial disparity (in the prisons) didn't exist before we had
these drug laws," said state Sen. Toni N. Harp, D-New Haven.

State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said that 50 percent of the
people arrested in Connecticut on drug charges are white, but that
only 10 percent of the them charged with drug offenses end up in prison.

The rate of incarceration for drug defendants who are minorities is
closer to 90 percent, according to McDonald, who is co-chairman of the
legislature's Judiciary Committee.

Half a gram of crack cocaine costs $20-50 on the streets, said
McDonald, while the street value for an ounce of powdered cocaine is
between $1,400 and $2,800.

But state Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, called one ounce of crack
"a tremendous amount" that would only be carried by crack dealers.
"People don't possess one ounce of crack cocaine for recreational
use," he said.

"This is about being soft on crime, this is about being soft on crack
dealers," said State Sen. David J. Cappiello, R-Danbury. He said
studies have shown that crack provides its users with a swifter, more
intense high than powdered cocaine and that it may be even more addictive.

Republican lawmakers proposed that the sentencing threshold for both
types of cocaine be equalized at the half-ounce level, thus easing the
penalties for crack and making them stricter for powdered cocaine. But
the Senate rejected that amendment on a 23-13 vote.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake