CRACK RULE MAY AFFECT THOUSANDS

Panel Says Easing Of Sentences Should Apply Retroactively

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously
Tuesday to allow some 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them
black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences.

The commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences,
decided to make retroactive its recent easing of recommended
sentences for crack offenses.

Most of those eligible could receive no more than a two-year cut in
their prison terms, but roughly 3,800 inmates could be released from
prison within a year after the March 3 effective date of Tuesday's
decision. Federal judges will have the final say whether to reduce sentences.

The commissioners said the delay until March would give judges and
prison officials time to deal with public safety and other issues.

The commission took note of objections raised by the Bush
administration, but said there is no basis to treat convicts
sentenced before the guidelines were changed differently from those
sentenced after the changes.

The sentencing commission recently changed the guidelines to reduce
the disparity in prison time for the two crimes. The new guidelines
took effect Nov. 1.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions of Vermont, a commission member,
said the vote on retroactivity will have the "most dramatic impact on
African-American families." A failure to act "may be taken by some as
particularly unjust," Sessions said before the vote.

Four of every five crack defendants is black. Most powder cocaine
convictions involve whites.

Relatives of prison inmates filled the meeting room and applauded
loudly following the 7-0 vote. But several family members and
commissioners called on Congress to overhaul cocaine sentencing laws.

"The debate needs to shift from the Sentencing Commission to
Congress," said Julie Stewart, president and founder of Families
Against Mandatory Minimums. "That disparity between crack and powder
and all of its injustices continues."

Several bills have been introduced to further reduce or eliminate the
disparity. The Senate is expected to hold hearings on the legislation
next year.

THE PENALTIES

Crack case prisoners: Between 36,000 and 37,000 federal prison
inmates, out of a population of 200,000, are serving time for crack crimes.

Sentencing disparity: Even after the change, prison terms for crack
cocaine still are two to five times longer on average than sentences
for powder cocaine, the result of a 20-year-old decision by Congress
to treat crack more harshly. The commission first said in 1995 that
there was no evidence to support such disparate treatment.

Other drug penalties: In previous years, the sentencing commission
reduced penalties for crimes involving marijuana, LSD and OxyContin,
which are primarily committed by whites, and made those decisions
retroactive. But those changes combined did not affect as large a
group as did Tuesday's vote.