For more information, contact:
Eric E. Sterling, President
The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Tel. (301) 301-589-6020

Click here for printer-friendly version

Attorney General Janet Reno should "appoint a team of independent reviewers to scrutinize Department of Justice practices and policies regarding the selection of crack cocaine cases for prosecution," said Eric E. Sterling, President of The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. Almost 95% of Federal crack defendants are Black or minority. In major Federal courts in the U.S. -- including Boston, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and Dallas, covering millions of Americans -- no white person has ever been convicted of a crack cocaine offense in the nine year history of the crack law, according to the Los Angeles Times (May 21, 1995).

"The extreme racial disparity in crack prosecutions is the result of decisions made by DEA and the Justice Department, not simply the law or guidelines that set a 100-to-1 ratio between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. The race disparity in crack prosecutions is neither inevitable nor accidental. These prosecutions are approved by DEA supervisors, and by U.S. Attorney office supervisors. These prosecutions are U.S. Department of Justice standard practice and/or policy," said Sterling.

"I call upon Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a team of independent reviewers to scrutinize Department of Justice practices and policies regarding the selection of crack cocaine cases for prosecution. If the Federal crack defendants were high-level offenders, this inquiry would not be necessary. But the data on Federal cocaine prosecutions shows that 64% of crack defendants are low-level -- not the high-level offenders appropriate for Federal prosecution. That these are low-level cases, coupled with the fact that over 95% of the defendants are Black and minority strongly suggests that race is a major criterion -- wittingly or unwittingly -- for selection of subjects for prosecution. If it is not race, then is it caprice or incompetence that selects these low-level cases?" said Sterling.

"Every drug case in America violates the Federal Controlled Substances Act. There are about 1 million drug arrests nationwide every year that are not prosecuted by the Department of Justice. In 1992, for example, there were over 200,000 arrests for heroin or cocaine trafficking nationwide. The Justice Department prosecutes some 15,000 drug cases in a year. Every day Justice declines to prosecute thousands of felony violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Justice does prosecute 3000 crack dealers annually -- but two-thirds of them are low-level, and almost all of them are Black or minority. Why is Justice prosecuting these minor offenders knowing they will be sentenced as kingpins?" said Sterling.

"When Congress created mandatory minimum sentences in 1986 it intended that 'the Federal government's most intense focus ought to be on major traffickers, the manufacturers or the heads of organizations, who are responsible for creating and delivering very large quantities of drugs,'" said Sterling. (H. Rept 99-845, Prt. 1, pp. 11-12, emphasis added).

"Congress made a mistake in setting numbers like 5 grams and 50 grams of crack as the triggering quantities for mandatory sentences. DEA and Justice know that the people involved in those quantities are penny-ante drug dealers. In fact, over 56% of all Federal drug prosecutions are of offenders who are low-level, according to the Sentencing Commission. This is prosecutorial malpractice," said Sterling.

DEA and Justice are prosecuting small-scale crack dealers at the expense of investigating and prosecuting major traffickers. The Sentencing Commission found that only 11.2% of ALL drug offenders in the Federal system are high-level (only 9.2% of powder cases and only 5.5% crack cases). Over 56% of ALL drug offenders are the lowest level: street-level dealers, bodyguards, couriers and mules. (52.6% of powder cases and 63.7% of crack cases). Overwhelmingly, the offenders are local-level offenders, not interstate or international. Of ALL drug offenders, 41.3% are local (39% of powder cases and 76.8% of crack cases). Generally, these local cases should be (and in the case of white defendants are) prosecuted at the State level. Of ALL drug offenders that the Department of Justice chooses to prosecute, only 22.8% operate interstate, and only 23.7% operate internationally. Of powder defendants, 31.3% operate interstate and 18.1% operate internationally. Of crack defendants, only 14.6% operate interstate and only 1.3% operate internationally.

"Why does the management of the Justice Department tolerate DEA and U.S. Attorney policies or practices that focus on small-scale, insignificant drug dealers?" asked Sterling. Sterling's letter was delivered to the Attorney General on November 2, 1995.

# # #