DRUG CASES, PRISON TERMS HAVE CLIMBED SINCE 1984

WASHINGTON -- Drug offenders spend a year more in prison on average than
they did 15 years ago, and drug offenses now make up about one- third of
federal criminal cases, both the result of tougher drug sentencing,
according to new figures from the Justice Department.

More than 38,200 suspects were referred to federal prosecutors in 1999 for
alleged drug offenses, up from 11,854 in 1984. About 84 percent of these
suspects were subsequently charged in a U.S. court, showed the figures,
which were released Sunday by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

But criminal justice experts immediately questioned the agency's
conclusions, saying that according to Sentencing Commission figures,
sentences had fallen during the 1990s. Others questioned whether more
punitive prison terms would deter drug crime if prevention and treatment
did not also become a priority.

Changes in federal statutes mean that from 1984 to 1999, prison terms
imposed on drug offenders have increased from 5 years, 2 months to 6 years,
2 months on average. Nearly 90 percent of drug defendants were convicted
and the vast majority were convicted of drug trafficking. Less than one in
20 were convicted of simple possession of drugs.

Of 38,288 suspects referred to federal prosecutors for alleged drug
offenses during 1999, 31 percent were involved with marijuana, 28 percent
cocaine powder, 15 percent crack cocaine and 15 percent methamphetamine.
The rest were involved with opiates and other drugs. Just over half were
under the age of 30 and most were importers, manufacturers and large-scale
dealers.

Racial differences were stark: 86 percent of crack cocaine offenders were
black, while 72 percent of methamphetamine offenders were white. Cocaine
was spread through all ethnic groups.

Attorney General John Ashcroft welcomed the findings. "This report shows
that tougher federal drug laws are making a real difference in clearing
major drug offenders from our streets," he said. "Federal law enforcement
is targeted effectively at convicting major drug traffickers and punishing
them with longer lockups in prison."

But law professors questioned the Bureau of Statistics' conclusions. They
said figures from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts
revealed that since 1991-1992, the average drug sentence had declined by 22
percent -- or nearly two years -- per defendant, and that preliminary
figures from the Sentencing Commission showed the decline continuing
throughout fiscal 2000.

Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie-Mellon University, said the
apparent inconsistency in the figures could be explained by a strong growth
in the length of sentences during the 1980s, which had leveled and then
declined during the '90s.