DRUG CASES, SENTENCES UP SHARPLY SINCE 1984

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 Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics.

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 those
suspects were subsequently charged in a U.S. court, showed the figures,
which were released yesterday.

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 in reality 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 increased from 62 months to 74 months on average.
Almost 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 the 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
younger than 30, and most were importers, manufacturers and large-scale
dealers.

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

During 1999, the longest prison terms were imposed on drug offenders
involved with crack (114 months), drug offenders who possessed firearms
(156 months) and those with extensive records (125 months). Twenty-eight
percent of defendants received reduced sentences after providing
substantial assistance to prosecutors.

Attorney General John D. 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 from the Indiana University School of Law in
Indianapolis questioned the Bureau of Statistics' conclusions, arguing that
since 1991-1992 the average length of federal drug sentences has declined
steadily and dramatically.

They said that figures from the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts revealed that 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.

"It's clear to me that more federal judges and prosecutors have voted with
their feet on sentence length," said Frank O. Bowman III, associate law
professor and co-author of "Quiet Rebellion? Explaining Nearly a Decade of
Declining Federal Drug Sentences." "They are saying as a group that they
don't think drug sentences need to be as long as they are to accomplish
their aim."

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 declined
during the '90s.

He pointed out that in 1999, 92 percent of first-time offenders were sent
to prison -- higher than most, if not all, other crimes. But most of the
dealers who were sent to prison had been arrested previously -- two-thirds
had been arrested before and four in 10 had been arrested four or more times.

"There's a mixed message," said James Alan Fox, Lipman professor of
criminal justice at Northeastern University. "More drug sellers are being
incarcerated, but that means that business is being redistributed. It's
like a superstore which puts small-time independent office product
retailers out of business. It doesn't mean that no people are buying office
products."

"The problem [with punitive responses] is that it does not take you very
far," Blumstein said. "The drug market is demand driven . . . and so you
have to deal with that through prevention and treatment."