PANEL SEEKS TO EVEN SCALES ON COCAINE SENTENCING

Crime: Disparities in Powder, Crack Penalties Are Cited. The Justice
Department Opposes Any Lesser Punishments.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission indicated Friday that it will
ask Congress to change drug laws to reduce differences in punishments
involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a change the Justice Department
believes is unnecessary.

The sentencing commission, in a statement, said it was concerned not only
about whether cocaine punishments were fair but also "whether the penalties
are perceived as fair."

The commission cited figures showing that a person must possess 100 times
more powder cocaine than crack cocaine to receive a comparable sentence. To
address the situation, the Justice Department would prefer that Congress
increase sentences for powder cocaine crimes, not lower sentences for those
involving crack. Reducing crack sentences would signal "a retreat in our
nation's fight against illegal drugs," Deputy U.S. Atty. Gen. Larry
Thompson told the sentencing commission last month.

Under U.S. law, a defendant is sentenced to at least five years for
trafficking in 500 grams of powder cocaine or 5 grams of crack.

The commission said its members concluded unanimously that the punishment
differences were "not appropriate," even while acknowledging that sentences
in crack cocaine cases ought to be tougher than in cases involving powder
cocaine.

"The sentencing commission chooses to bring light rather than heat to this
subject," the commission's statement said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Viet Dinh has described the 100-to-1 figures as
misleading. A recent Justice Department study found that crack defendants
convicted of trafficking in cases involving fewer than 25 grams of cocaine
received sentences roughly five times longer than the same defendants in
powder cocaine cases.

"The department opposes any legislative proposal to lower the penalties for
trafficking in crack cocaine," Dinh said. "The crack epidemic has had a
devastating effect on its victims, and the law needs to continue to protect
those victims in our most vulnerable communities."

The Justice Department said the sentencing commission rejected a measure
that would have automatically lessened penalties for some crack defendants,
unless Congress objected. Instead, the commission recommended that Congress
consider reducing penalties for crack cocaine, the department said.