Pubdate: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2008 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Sentencing+Commission Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/crack+cocaine TOWARD DRUG CASE JUSTICE Attorney General Michael Mukasey tried to scare the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday into blocking a responsible plan by the United States Sentencing Commission to address the gross disparity in penalties for possession or sale of crack cocaine and those for powder cocaine offenses. His alarm is unwarranted. Under current federal law, people convicted of selling 5 grams of crack -- most often used in impoverished, minority areas -- face the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as offenders caught selling 500 grams of the powdered cocaine popular with more upscale users. This 100-to-1 rule is a legacy of the 1980s, when it was erroneously believed that crack was much more dangerous than the chemically identical powder. Congress made crack cocaine the only drug that carries a mandatory minimum sentence for possession -- even for first-time offenders. For more than a decade, the sentencing commission, which is the bipartisan body that sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, has been urging Congress to address the sentencing disparity. Using its own authority, the commission last year adopted new guidelines aimed at giving crack cocaine offenders a shot at marginally reducing their time in prison. The Bush administration objects to the commission's recent decision to make those changes retroactive. Mr. Mukasey warned that unless Congress acts quickly to severely narrow eligibility, "1,600 convicted crack dealers, many of them violent gang members, will be eligible for immediate release into communities nationwide." That is a distortion. Under the new guidelines, each petition for early release is to be evaluated by a federal judge in consultation with the authorities. Not all crack offenders are eligible, and judges are specifically directed to weigh public safety concerns. Nothing prevents judges from releasing inmates to a halfway facility, where appropriate, to ease the transition back to society and reduce the chance of recidivism. All offenders would still have to serve their mandatory minimum sentence. On average, the commission estimates, lengthy crack sentences stand to be shortened by less than three years. The commission issued its plan just a day after the Supreme Court upheld the discretion of judges to dispense lighter sentences for crack cocaine defendants than those recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. Next week, a Senate judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on reducing the giant chasm of injustice created by the current sentencing scheme. Instead of brandishing overblown fears to try to defeat a limited reform, Mr. Mukasey should be working with Congress to finally end the damaging 100-to-1 rule. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake