SENTENCING DEAL IS IN THE WORKS

Congress could limit the early release of crack cocaine offenders as
part of a possible deal with the Bush administration to reduce a
disparity in cocaine sentencing, a leading Democrat said yesterday.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) said there is growing support in
Congress for revising a 22-year-old law that sets far harsher federal
penalties for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine. A Justice
Department willingness to reduce the disparities and revise a
mandatory minimum sentence for crack possession makes a deal possible,
Biden said.

He said he could consider in return the Bush administration's plea to
limit a pending release of crack offenders whose sentences were cut by
the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

"I'm willing to consider a compromise [as long as] . . . there's a
significant change relative to disparities, a significant change
relative to minimum mandatory, and in return for that I'm willing to
talk about a meaningful change in retroactivity," Biden said after a
hearing of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee he chairs.