Panel Urges Change in Cocaine Sentences
Disparity in penalties 'cannot be justified'

By Laurie Asseo;Associated Press;Washington

A sentencing panel recommended narrowing the wide disparity in federal
sentencing laws that treat trafficking in crack cocaine more harshly than
selling the powdered variety.

"Although research and public policy may support somewhat higher penalties
for crack than for powder cocaine, a 100 to1 quantity ratio cannot be
justified," the U.S. Sentencing Commission said in a report to Congress
yesterday.

Federal law requires a fiveyear minimum sentence for people caught
selling five grams or more of crack. However, someone convicted of selling
powder cocaine would get the same sentence only if 500 grams or more were
involved.

Noting that African Americans make up almost 90 percent of those convicted
in federal court of distributing crack, the commission said, "The current
penalty structure results in a perception of unfairness and inconsistency."

In 1995, President Clinton and Congress rejected the sentencing
commission's recommendation to equalize penalties for trafficking in crack
and powder cocaine.

But Clinton said yesterday that his administration will give the new
recommendation "very serious consideration."

'The sentencing laws must continue to reflect that crack cocaine is a more
harmful form of cocaine," the president said in a statement issued by the
White House. "However, some adjustment to the cocaine penalty structure is
warranted as a matter of sound criminal justice policy."

Clinton said federal prosecutors should go after mid and highlevel drug
traffickers instead of lowlevel dealers. He said he has asked Attorney
General Janet Reno and drug policy adviser Barry McCaffrey to review the
proposal and report to himA within 60 days.

Reno and McCaffrey said in a joint statement that the proposal "moves us in the
right direction." They said the current policy does not adequately direct
federal prosecutions toward mid and highlevel cocaine sellers and also
"appears to have a disproportionate racial impact."

The sentencing commission recommended that for crack cocaine, Congress
raise the fivegram trigger for a fiveyear mandatory sentence to somewhere
between 25 and 75 grams. For powder cocaine, the 500 gram threshold for the
same sentence should be lowered to a level between 125 and 375 grams, the
panel said.

Penalties for selling other amounts of crack and powder should be similarly
adjusted, the panel said.

However, Senator Spencer Abraham, RMich., said he would prefer "not to
lower the crack sentences, but to toughen the powder sentences." Senate
Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, RUtah, said he had not reviewed the
commission's proposal but thought his proposal to lower the threshold for
powder cocaine sentences "makes the most sense."

The panel also recommended reducing the penalty for simple
possession of crack to the level now in effect {or powder cocaine.
Currently, a fiveyear sentence is required for possession of five or more
grams of crack, while possession of powder in anyamount is punishable by no
more than one year in prisons.

"All of these drugs cause great harm to individuals and to society at
large," the commission said, but it added that violent street crime and
addiction are more often associated with crack distribution.