Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2008 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/write/ Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Jonathan Saltzman Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?244 (Sentencing - United States - News) INEQUITY'S END MEANS NEW START FOR 31 Crack Offenders From Mass. See US Sentences Trimmed Jean Janvier spent 17 months locked up for selling about 2 grams of crack cocaine in Dorchester. To show what 2 grams looks like, his lawyer shook out a half-dozen orange Tic Tacs into his palm as Janvier watched. "That much," George F. Gormley said in his South Boston law office. If the Haitian-born Janvier had been caught with that much powdered cocaine, he probably would never have been prosecuted in federal court or been incarcerated if convicted in state court. For two decades, the criminal justice system treated crack cocaine offenses much more harshly than crimes involving the powder form of the drug. But Janvier got a break not long after he was sentenced in July. In December, the US Sentencing Commission voted to retroactively lighten punishments for some crack-related crimes in a landmark move to narrow the disparity between the penalties, a disparity that has taken a particular toll on blacks, who account for most crack offenders. Soon afterward, a federal district court judge cut Janvier's two-year sentence by five months, plus two months for good behavior. He was released in May from a federal prison in upstate New York and is among at least 31 inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses in Massachusetts who have been freed since March, said Miriam Conrad, a federal public defender. Janvier was grateful to get out of the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Ray Brook. "Even if you were over there for a week and you found out that you was going to get out a day early, it would put a smile to your face," said Janvier, 22, of Dorchester. "Don't nobody want to be in that type of situation." Like many other crack offenders, Janvier had a criminal record before he pleaded guilty to dealing crack, having been arrested twice on drug and weapon charges. But critics of crack laws say the larger issue is the injustice that crack cocaine offenders serve sentences three to five times longer than those sentenced for powder cocaine. Few laws have been more widely decried by judges, defense lawyers, prisoner advocates, and even some police officials than the mandatory penalties for crack passed by Congress in the 1980s. Under the law, someone caught with 1 gram of crack was subject to the same sentence as someone with 100 grams of powder cocaine. The law also imposed a mandatory sentence of five years in prison for dealing 5 grams of crack and 10 years in prison for dealing 50 grams of crack. Some repeat offenders convicted of large sales have been sentenced to life without parole. The Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, went even further than Congress, establishing sentence ranges for crack-related crimes that exceeded what lawmakers mandated. The punishments reflected a widespread belief that crack was more dangerous than the powdered drug and was fueling deadly gun violence. But specialists on drug abuse ultimately concluded that the two forms of cocaine had more similarities than differences. The result of the guidelines was a racially skewed inequity between punishments for the two forms of cocaine. Nearly 83 percent of the 5,472 people sentenced in 2007 in federal courts in the United States for crack cocaine offenses were black, according to Mary Price, vice president and general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, an advocacy group. Conrad, whose agency has represented about a third of the prisoners who have been freed by judges in Massachusetts, said federal prosecutors would never look at someone caught selling 2 grams of powdered cocaine. "It wouldn't even be on their radar screen," she said. In December, the Sentencing Commission reduced the sentencing range for certain crack offenses by two levels. For example, it lowered the maximum recommended sentence for selling 5 grams of cocaine from 78 months to 63 months. Judges in Massachusetts have responded swiftly. By July 8, judges had trimmed the sentences of 79 of 109 inmates, including those who were freed, according to Chief US District Judge Mark L. Wolf. Some freed prisoners have been detained elsewhere for other legal proceedings, including deportation if they are not US citizens. The commission had estimated that 25 prisoners from Massachusetts would be eligible for release by November and that a total of 91 prisoners could be freed through 2012. Nationwide, the commission has estimated that about 20,500 will eventually be freed early. US Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey had opposed making the new guidelines retroactive, saying it could send violent criminals back to the streets en masse. But Wolf said the revised guidelines have safeguards. Judges consult prosecutors, defense lawyers, probation officers, and others about the conduct of imprisoned inmates and strive not to release anyone who might pose a danger, he said. Those sentenced as career offenders are ineligible. Prosecutors have agreed to most of the 79 shortened sentences, Wolf added. US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said that if defendants meet eligibility requirements and are not a danger to the community, prosecutors should not object. Lieutenant Jeffrey P. Silva - a spokesman for the New Bedford police, who have made numerous crack cocaine arrests - said he does not worry that crime will rise as a result of the releases. But he minimized the significance of the sentence disparities, saying, "I don't feel there's anybody who got arrested for crack cocaine who was a pillar of the community." A report released by the commission last month, based on partial data, indicated that defendants whose sentences were shortened in Massachusetts had originally been sentenced to an average of nine years in prison and that their sentences were cut to about 7 1/2 years. While delighted to be free, Janvier said imprisonment did him some good. The son of a taxi driver and a registered nurse, he said that briefer previous incarcerations did not shake him the way this one did. Janvier, a graduate of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, said he dealt crack for about five years and had a history of drug and alcohol problems. Janvier has to complete six months in a Boston halfway house and will be on supervised release for five years. He spends his days applying for entry-level jobs at Home Depot, Staples, and other stores. He tells employers he has been convicted of a felony and has no work experience, but hopes someone will give him a chance. "I don't want people to judge me just by looking at my record and saying I'm a bad person," he said. "I always call back and say, 'This is what I used to do, but I'm trying to leave it in the past.' " - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin