On April 16, 2002, twenty-eight judges of the U.S.
Courts of Appeals or the U.S. District Courts who were
formerly United States Attorneys, wrote to the U.S.
Sentencing Commission condemning the current disparity
in powder and crack cocaine laws and sentencing guidelines,
declaring they "cannot be justified and results
in sentences that are unjust and do not serve society's
interest."
ANALYSIS
In May 2002, the U.S. Sentencing Commission submitted
a comprehensive
report to Congress, Cocaine and Federal Sentencing
Policy. This excellent report is worth reading closely.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission found in its report:
(1) The current penalties exaggerate the relative
harmfulness of crack cocaine. They found that "The negative
effects of prenatal crack cocaine exposure are identical
to the negative effects of prenatal powder cocaine exposure
and are significantly less severe than previously believed.
In fact, the negative effects from prenatal cocaine
exposure are similar to those associated with prenatal
tobacco exposure and less severe than the negative
effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. (Emphasis added).
They found that "Recent data indicate that the epidemic
of crack use by youth never materialized to the extent
feared."
(2) Current penalties sweep too broadly and apply
most often to lower level offenders. They found that
over one-quarter of Federal crack cocaine offenses involved
relatively small drug quantities (less than 25 grams).
Only 2.7% of Federal powder cocaine offenses involved
less than 25 grams.
They found especially disparate penalties for small
offenders. The average sentence for trafficking less
than 25 grams of powder cocaine was 13.6 months. The
average sentence for trafficking less than 25 grams
of crack cocaine was 64.8 months, over 5 years.
(3) Current quantity-based penalties overstate the
seriousness of most crack cocaine offenses and fail
to provide adequate proportionality. "The current
penalty structure was based on many beliefs about the
association of crack cocaine offenses with certain harmful
conduct B particularly violence B that are no longer
accurate."
(4) Current penalties' severity mostly impacts minorities.
In 2000, about 85 percent of Federal crack cocaine offenders
were black. Thus the impact of "unduly severe penalties...falls
primarily upon black offenders."
The Commission recommends unanimously:
(A) That the threshold for the 5-year mandatory minimum
be raised from 5 grams to at least 25 grams, and the
10-year threshold be raised from 50 grams to at least
250 grams. They also recommend the repeal of the simple
possession of crack cocaine mandatory minimum sentence
of 5 years.
(B) Specific sentencing enhancements to account for
involvement of weapons, infliction of bodily injury
from violence, distribution to persons under 21, distribution
near schools and colleges, etc.
(C) That the current powder cocaine mandatory minimum
threshold quantities be maintained at current levels
of 500 and 5000 grams.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice supports the
current crack cocaine sentences and urges stronger powder
cocaine sentencing at the lower levels. On March 19,
2002, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson told the
U.S. Sentencing Commission, "After thorough study and
internal debate, we have concluded that the current
federal policy and guidelines for sentencing crack cocaine
offenses are proper. It would therefore be more appropriate
to address the differential between crack and powder
cocaine by recommending that penalties for powder cocaine
be increased. . . . Lowering crack penalties would simply
send the wrong message. The message that we care more
about crack dealers than we do about the people and
the communities victimized by crack. That is something
we simply cannot support."
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Share your opinion with your Representative and Senators.
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