EQUITABLE SENTENCES FOR POWDER AND CRACK

In her Feb. 16 column "The Harm in Mandatory Sentences," Judy Mann points
out problems with mandatory minimums.

Among all controlled substances, crack cocaine is the only one that has a
federal mandatory minimum sentence for a first offense of simple
possession. The administration recommends that mandatory minimums be
abolished for simple possession of crack.

We also support revision of the 1986 federal law that punishes crack
cocaine involvement 100 times more severely than powder cocaine crimes.
This law has fostered a perception of racial injustice; 90 percent of those
convicted on crack cocaine charges are African American.

Harsher penalties for crack possession have resulted in long incarceration
for low-level dealers instead of increased apprehension of middle- and
large-scale cocaine traffickers.

When people lose confidence in the fairness of the law, enforcement
suffers. By revising the current inequitable sentencing structure for
powder versus crack cocaine, the administration intends to restore respect
for the law and foster a more effective division of responsibility among
law-enforcement authorities.

Francis X. Kinney, Director of Strategy, Office of National Drug Control
Policy,

Executive Office of the President, Washington