BILL INCREASES JAIL TIME FOR MAJOR CRIMES

Sentences For Crack Cocaine Possession Lessened To Equal Powder Cocaine

COLUMBIA - A bill passed Thursday in the Senate would ensure that convicts
of more major crimes serve the majority of their sentences but also reduces
the penalty for crack cocaine possession and dealing. The crack cocaine
penalty reduction was part of an intricate compromise on a House
truth-in-sentencing bill that finally won support of black senators who had
tried to stall the measure. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville,
authored a bill requiring convicts to serve a minimum of 85 percent of
their sentences if they get work, education or behavior credits. Inmates
without those credits would serve all of their sentences. Under current
law, that standard applies only to crimes that carry sentences of 20 years
or more. The bill senators are sending back to the House imposes the
standard on major crimes involving sentences of 15 years or more, as well
as on three crimes carrying 10-year sentences: assault and battery of a
high and aggravated nature; criminal domestic violence and third-degree
criminal sexual conduct. Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia, had railed against
the House plan Wednesday. "Where are you going to get the money to lock up
all of these people?" Patterson asked. But an agreement to lower the
penalties for crack cocaine offenses to match penalties of cocaine offenses
moved the bill forward Thursday. Currently, a first offense for possession
of less than a gram of crack cocaine is considered a felony and brings up
to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The bill the Senate approved
lessens that to a misdemeanor with no more than two years in prison and a
$5,000 fine. "You'd face the same sentence as if you had that same amount
of cocaine," said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, an attorney who helped
broker the compromise. "What we've done is basically put everything on an
equal keel, so there's not that disparity there," said Sen. Clementa
Pinckney, D-Ridgeland. About 21 percent of the state's inmates are in
prison for serious drug offenses, according to the S.C. Corrections
Department. Among black men and women, more than 27 percent are in prison
on "dangerous drug" offenses, according to the department. The agency's
spokeswoman could not immediately say how many of those people are in
prison on crack cocaine convictions. Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said
lowering crack cocaine penalties could fundamentally change the state's
prison population and return voting rights to more black men. A felony
conviction eliminates voting rights, but a misdemeanor does not. "When
those men get out, they're going to be able to register to vote and
participate in the political process," he said. The change reversed
Pinckney's efforts earlier in the week that would have raised powder
cocaine sentences to the same level as crack cocaine. "We thought about
that for about a minute," said Sen. Bob Waldrep, R-Anderson, who worked
with Hutto on the compromise. Hutto said the tougher sentencing would cost
the state at least $59 million in the first year. But within three years,
the costs could soar to more than $500 million as inmates served longer
terms for major crimes, he said. The Senate bill also carries a requirement
that the state begin collecting data on traffic offenses to determine if
law enforcement personnel use racial profiling. It's very important "to go
on the record that we're opposed to one-third of the citizens in South
Carolina being profiled just because they are black," Ford said.