FEDERAL DRUG SENTENCES ARE SHRINKING, STUDY FINDS

Crime: Average Southland term is down from 18 years to seven. Figures
are called startling.

WASHINGTON - Despite a massive expansion of the nation's drug war,
narcotics traffickers and users busted by federal law enforcement agencies
in Los Angeles and nationwide are doing far less time in prison than in
years past, according to interviews and new data released Sunday.

Researchers at Syracuse University said the startling statistics suggest
that federal authorities are failing to target the most dangerous drug
kingpins and the most drug-infested areas, focusing instead on lower-level
marijuana crimes.

As a result, judges may be meting out shorter sentences - due either to
weaker cases or less serious offenses, the researchers said.

Whatever the explanation, the reduction of drug sentences appears
particularly pronounced in Southern California, according to the new
statistics, which are based on the federal government's computerized data
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Notorious as a gateway for drug importers, Southern California once meted
out the toughest drug sentences in the country, according to the most
recent statistics compiled by TRAC, the Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. But the group's study shows that
penalties in the Southland have shrunk by more than half, from an average
federal sentence of 18 years in 1992 to seven years in 1998.

Nationwide, federal drug sentences fell 22% over the same period, even as
the number of drug prosecutions and convictions hit records, the study found.

In some other key barometers of drug-law enforcement, Southern California
also was found to lag well behind the rest of the nation. Working on the
assumption that more populated areas have more drug activity, the
researchers ranked 90 federal court districts by the number of federal drug
referrals per capita.

By that ratio, Los Angeles was 72nd in cases brought by the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

TRAC researchers said the low rankings of Los Angeles and several other
urban areas was perplexing because those cities "have long been viewed as
major centers for the import, production and use of illegal drugs."

These areas included San Francisco, which ranked 87th; Chicago (85th); and
Newark, N.J. (79th).

The researchers suggested that the relatively low number of federal drug
investigations in those areas reflected a lack of aggressiveness among
federal anti-drug authorities there.

In a ranking of conviction rates, Los Angeles placed 85th among the 90
districts. There was only a 35% chance that a Southland drug suspect
arrested after a DEA referral would be convicted.

The length of sentences handed out in Southern California on DEA-referred
cases ranked 38th in the country.

The study focused primarily on the DEA and Customs - the two leading
agencies in the federal anti-drug effort - and it raised questions about
the consistency and effectiveness with which both enforce drug laws.

Several experts in the law enforcement and drug communities said they were
surprised by the findings. No one seemed certain how to explain them, but
all agreed that the statistics - particularly the severe drop in drug
sentences - are worth closer scrutiny and could mark a potentially
significant trend with broad implications for anti-narcotics enforcement.

TRAC, a nonprofit research organization, has been a thorn in the
government's side in recent years, suing repeatedly - and successfully -
under the Freedom of Information Act for access to data the government had
refused to divulge.

DEA and Customs officials in Los Angeles said they need to review the
report before responding. A Justice Department spokesman in Washington
said: "TRAC is correct that the average sentences have declined from 1992
to 1998. "It's also worth noting that the number of drug defendants
sentenced has increased 21% during this period," said the spokesman, John
Russell.

He said the department "believes there are a number of reasons for the
decline in length of drug sentences," including relaxation of some minimum
sentencing guidelines, a surge in plea bargains by drug defendants and
promises to cooperate in continuing investigations, which shaves time off
sentences.

DEA spokesman Terry Parham added: "We are reviewing the study itself and we
are working with TRAC, because we found some discrepancies in their numbers."

Although federal authorities have disputed TRAC's methodology in past
studies, the group's findings have drawn attention.

After the group published a study last year showing Los Angeles was lagging
far behind the rest of the country in federal gun prosecutions, the U.S.
attorney for Southern California announced that his office was changing its
internal procedures to allow prosecution of lower-level firearms cases that
often had gone unpunished.

The gun study drew cheers from the National Rifle Assn. and other
conservatives who say the federal government hasn't done enough to enforce
current firearms laws.

But the drug study won support from liberals, some of whom believe
low-level crimes are prosecuted more aggressively than major offenses.

"This is pretty clear proof that substantial numbers of [people arrested
and convicted on federal drug charges] are low-level offenders," said Marc
Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., a
liberal research and advocacy group.

Mauer and other analysts said they were surprised to see data in the TRAC
report showing that marijuana was involved in more federal convictions in
1998 than any other single drug, representing 34% of 17,525 convictions.
Powder cocaine was second at 28%, followed by crack cocaine at 17%,
methamphetamine at 11% and heroin at 8%.

The findings refute "the image out in the public that police are just
arresting hard-core cocaine and heroin users," he said.

But Bob Weiner, a spokesman for White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey,
said federal agents are going after large marijuana wholesalers, not
small-time users. "It's not just the average guy with a joint who's being
convicted," he said.

McCaffrey's office will study the report's "mixed message" to determine its
implications, Weiner said. But he added that the findings on shorter
sentences, although surprising, may simply reflect the increased discretion
that judges have been allowed in recent years.

The study also says that shorter sentences could reflect plea bargains
arranged by federal prosecutors for defendants who agree to help them in
other investigations.

Researchers also noted that the trends run counter to large increases in
federal anti-drug budgets.