BILL SEEKS TO CUT DISPARITY IN COCAINE CASE SENTENCES

A bipartisan group of four U.S. senators, all former state attorneys
general, presented legislation yesterday to reduce the disparity in
prison sentences for those caught with crack cocaine and those caught
with powdered cocaine. That disparity in federal sentencing
guidelines is currently 100-to-1. It would be reduced to 20-to-1
under a measure introduced yesterday by Republican Sens. Jeff
Sessions of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas and Democratic Sens.
Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ken Salazar of Colorado. The Drug
Sentencing Reform Act of 2006 would reduce the disparity by
decreasing the amount of crack cocaine necessary to trigger the
mandatory minimum sentencing and introducing a "modest increase on
powders," said Mr. Sessions, who presented a similar Senate bill in
2001. Currently, possession of 500 grams of powdered cocaine results
in a five-year mandatory minimum sentencing. It takes only 5 grams of
crack cocaine to warrant a similar sentence.

The senators propose shifting the sentencing amounts to 400 grams of
powder and 20 grams of crack cocaine. The bill would bring about
"tougher sentences on the worst and most violent drug offenders and
less severe sentences on lower-level, nonviolent offenders," said Mr.
Sessions, adding that the measure would shift the emphasis in
sentencing from drug quantity to the type of criminal act committed
in distributing drugs. "This does not signal that we are going soft
on crime," Mr. Sessions told reporters yesterday.

He said that "much crime is driven by drug use," but that as a former
federal prosecutor, he has "valid concerns in the disparity between
crack and powder." Mr. Cornyn said his prior experience as attorney
general of Texas showed him that "laws should be firm but fair. We
not only need just laws, but they need the appearance and reality of
fairness." The crack/powder sentencing disparity -- which has
resulted in higher incarceration rates for blacks convicted of drug
crimes -- long has been targeted by groups such as the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. In
2000, more than 84 percent of those sentenced for crack cocaine
distribution were black, while 9 percent were Hispanic and 5 percent
were white.

By contrast, 30 percent of those sentenced for powdered cocaine were
black, 50 percent were Hispanic and 15 percent were white. The
senators are trying to reduce the sentencing disparity between crack
and powdered cocaine, but not remove it. "Crack is a more dangerous
commodity," Mr. Sessions said. Although powdered cocaine is usually
snorted, crack is usually smoked.

Mr. Sessions said crack is more addictive and causes more paranoia
and violence than powdered cocaine.