FEDERAL DRUG SENTENCES DECLINED IN '90S

Washington (AP)--Average sentences for federal drug offenders declined
during the 1990s, a private research study reported Sunday, as Congress,
judges and prosecutors took opportunities to soften the nation's tough drug
sentences of defendants.

The findings by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse are somewhat surprising. The 1990s saw tougher drug laws
passed throughout the nation, federal drug-control spending rose by nearly
two-thirds to $16 billion a year in 1990, and federal drug convictions
climbed to an annual record of 21,571 in 1998.

Primary beneficiaries of the shorter sentences were nonviolent, first-time
offenders and criminals who helped agents catch fellow lawbreakers in
return for being allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges.

The decline in sentence length showed up in data collected by U.S. Courts,
the Justice Department and the U.S. Sentencing Commission, each of which
uses a slightly different definition to categorize drug crimes. The drop
occurred in both average drug-sentence lengths and in median sentences,
which are those for which half of all sentences are longer and half are
shorter.

The most extensive data set, from the U.S. Court system, found the decline
began in 1992, the final year of the Bush administration. A peak of 95.7
months occurred in 1991; from there, the average sentence dropped to 74.6
months in 1999, Trac found.

Justice Department data showed the average sentence declined from 86 months
in 1992 to 67 in 1998, and the median declined from 48 months in 1992 to 46
months in 1998, Trac reported.

Sentencing Commission data showed the average droped from 88.2 months in
1992 to 78 months in 1998, and the median from 60 months in 1991 to 56 in
1998, Trac reported.

Trac and federal officials cited a variety of reasons that might explain
the sentence-length decline, including a decline in serious drug use; and
more effective police work that produced more guilty pleas and fewer trials.