Pubdate: Thu, 16 Nov 2006
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2006 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Cited: Criminal Justice Policy Foundation http://www.cjpf.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Sentencing+Commission
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

CRACK COCAINE SENTENCING GUIDELINES NEED CHANGES

Twenty years ago, Congress passed an unwise, unjust law mandating 
long prison terms for people caught with small amounts of crack 
cocaine. As a result, small-time users, dealers and couriers -- 
overwhelmingly poor black men -- are locked up for years while 
big-time traffickers keep cocaine supplies flowing.

The law requires five years in prison for five grams of crack cocaine 
- -- the weight of a few sugar packets; it takes 500 grams of powder 
cocaine to trigger the same sentence. It's time to change the law.

In 1995, 1997 and 2002, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which advises 
Congress and the federal judiciary, called for eliminating or 
modifying the 100-to-1 disparity in cocaine penalties. But nobody 
wanted to look soft on drugs.

Tuesday, the commission held new hearings. U.S. District Judge Reggie 
B. Walton, deputy drug czar in the elder Bush's administration, 
called the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity "unconscionable." Minorities 
see harsh sentences for crack, primarily an inner-city drug, as proof 
courts are biased, he said. It's expected the commission will try 
again to get Congress to revise the 1986 law.

Federal crack defendants aren't drug kingpins: The commission 
estimates 73 percent of crack defendants were low-level street 
dealers, couriers or lookouts, writes Marc Mauer of the Sentencing 
Project. "The commission also has found that crack cocaine sentences 
are the single most significant factor contributing to racial 
disparity in federal sentencing."

In 1995, the Sentencing Commission urged equalizing penalties for 
crack and powder cocaine. President Clinton and Congress just said 
no. Told to try again, the commission suggested a 5-to-1 disparity in 
1997. Nothing happened.

In 2001, President Bush supported "making sure the powder-cocaine and 
the crack-cocaine penalties are the same. I don't believe we ought to 
be discriminatory."

In 2002, Bush's Justice Department opposed reducing crack penalties, 
arguing that crack cocaine causes more violence and addiction than 
powder cocaine because it's typically sold in small, cheap doses. 
Justice called for reducing the 100-to-1 disparity by raising 
penalties for powder cocaine.

That's still the administration's position, but there are signs of 
good sense in Congress. Earlier this year, bipartisan legislation was 
introduced to raise the amount of crack needed to trigger federal 
penalties, while lowering the amount of powder cocaine. Action is 
possible in 2007.

Just reducing the 100-to-1 disparity isn't enough.

A better idea comes from Eric Sterling, who helped write the 1986 
anti-crack law as a House Judiciary staffer. Now president of the 
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Sterling argues that the new law 
should "raise the quantity triggers for all drugs to realistic levels 
for high-level traffickers, such as 50 or 100 kilos of cocaine."

Federal prosecutors should focus resources on the big fish. State and 
local authorities can prosecute the small fry. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake