Reno, drug czar urge narrowing the gap between crack and cocaine
sentences

by Ronald J. Ostrow
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON Attorney General Janet Reno and federal drug czar Barry
McCaffrey have recommended sharply reducing the gap between mandatory
federalprison sentences for possession of crack cocaine, heavily used
by black offenders, and powder cocaine, popular among whites,
administration officials said yesterday.

President Clinton has not yet accepted the recommendation, which would
remove a sentencing disparity that has long angered black leaders and
served as a symbol to them of the nation's criminaljustice system
discriminating against minority offenders.

But Justice Department officials were already conducting what one source
described as "strategy" sessions on how to announce the decision without
risking appearing to be "soft on drugs."

Under the recommendation by Reno, the nation's chief lawenforcement
officer, and McCaffrey, the director of the White House's office of
national drugcontrol policy, the disparity between the amount of crack
and powdercocaine possession that triggers the same required sentence
would be cut from 100to1 to 10to1.

Under federal law in effect since 1986, anyone convicted of possessing 5
grams of crack receives a mandatory minimum of five years imprisonment,
while a person must possess 500 grams of powder cocaine to draw the same
punishment.

Under the RenoMcCaffrey recommendation, the fiveyear mandatory prison
sentence would apply to those possessing 25 grams of crack or 250 grams
of powder cocaine.

"Those who sell crack ought to be punished more," Reno told black police
executives meeting in Miami yesterday. "I want the (sentencing policy)
to be one that is fair, and one that the community thinks is fair. I
want it to be one that also imposes a fair, stiff penalty that fits the
crime."

Reno did not discuss the specific sentencing recommendations at the
meeting. When the mandatorysentencing provisions became law, the
rationale for the disparity was based on crack's greater potency and the
belief it played a larger role in causing violent street crime.

Since taking effect, the stiffer sentences for crack have been cited as a
major reason for the sharp increase in the imprisonment rates for young
blacks and Latinos.

The RenoMcCaffrey recommendation, if approved as expected by Clinton,
would require congressional legislation. Sen. Orrin Hatch, RUtah,
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has indicated he favors
reducing the present 100to1 disparity.

"This approach will enable law enforcement to devote its resources to big
and midlevel drug dealers and, at the same time, make the sentencing
structure fairer," an administration official familiar with the thinking
of Reno and McCaffrey said.

Last year, the U.S. Sentencing Commission set up by Congress called for
eliminating the possession disparity between crack and powder cocaine in
the mandatory sentencing. But Reno rejected that recommendation, noting
the heavy impact that crack has had on the predominantly minority
innercity populations.

Some 96 percent of those prosecuted for crack possession are black or
Latino, according to federal statistics.

Last April 29, the commission softened its recommendations, calling for the
fiveyear sentences to apply to those convicted of possessing between
125 to 375 grams of powder cocaine or between 25 to 75 grams of of
crack. The RenoMcCaffrey proposal would fall between the commission's
recommended ranges.