Pubdate: Mon, 25 Feb 2008
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2008 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  http://www.courant.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183

END U.S. DRUG-LAW DISPARITY

Most jurists, lawmakers and legal experts today  recognize that the
disparity in federal mandatory  sentences for sale and possession of
crack cocaine and  powdered cocaine is grossly unfair.

Congress, however, has been slow to eliminate the  discrepancy. It's
time that it did.

The sentencing guidelines, contained in the Anti-Drug  Abuse Act of
1986, state that a conviction for  distribution of 500 grams of
expensive powdered cocaine  carries a five-year mandatory minimum
sentence, while  the same penalty is triggered for distribution of
only  5 grams of cheap crack. That's a 100-to-1 difference.

The rule was based on the false premise that crack was  more potent
than cocaine and that, as a consequence,  crack caused violent
behavior -- theories that science  long ago discredited.

All that the guidelines have accomplished is to punish  low-income
minorities, African Americans in particular,  more severely than
affluent whites. Moreover, the law  targets street addicts and
low-level dealers, but has  never met its stated goal of taking down
top drug  kingpins.

Congress, even as it acknowledges that the law is  unjust, has so far
refused to change the guidelines for  fear of appearing soft on crime.

Two events last year should make it easier for Congress  to amend the
law this time around. The first was a Dec.  10 ruling by the U.S.
Supreme Court allowing federal  judges to hand down more lenient
sentences for crack  offenders than those called for in the guidelines.

Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Sentencing Commission  voted unanimously
to allow about 19,500 federal prison  inmates serving time for crack
distribution to seek  reductions of up to two years in their sentences.

Congress is considering several bills that promise to  either end or
reduce the disparity. The Drug Sentencing  Reform and Cocaine Kingpin
Trafficking Act of 2007,  sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden of
Delaware, would  apply the same sentences to equal amounts of crack
and  cocaine. A comparable proposal is being sponsored in  the House
by Rep. Charles Rangel of New York.

Two more measures, sponsored by Republican Sens. Orrin  Hatch of Utah
and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, would lower  the disparity to 20-to-1.

Connecticut passed a law two years ago that eliminated  the gap in
sentencing entirely by setting the threshold  that would guarantee
prison time at 14 grams for  possession of either crack or powdered
cocaine.

Congress should follow the state's lead and act  accordingly.
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MAP posted-by: Derek