DISPARITY IN SENTENCES FOR COCAINE STIR DEBATE

A federal judge in Chattanooga on Wednesday rejected a plea for a
lighter sentence from a young man accused of a crack cocaine crime,
despite proposed legislation to do away with old sentencing rules that
treat crimes involving crack much more harshly than those involving
powder cocaine.

The sentencing hearing of Amar Walker in U.S. District Court on
Wednesday highlighted the current national debate over the legitimacy
of a 1980s-era law that sought to stamp out the ravages of crack on
predominantly black inner-city neighborhoods.

It also touched on the confusion in federal courts regarding how to
now punish those caught with the substance as Congress tries to
resolve the issue.

"Hopefully, we'll all be relieved of this problem once Congress acts,"
U.S. District Judge Allan Edgar told Mr. Walker before sentencing him
to three years in prison.

Authorities arrested Mr. Walker, 25, in June on a charge of possessing
13 grams of crack, a smokable form of cocaine, that was found during a
routine traffic stop. Had Mr. Walker been carrying the same quantity
of the powder form of the drug, under current sentencing guidelines
the most time he could have received in prison was one year.

Conversely, Mr. Walker would have needed 1,300 grams of powder cocaine
to receive the same three-year sentence that he received for
possessing crack.

The disparity in sentencing originated in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of
1986, which treats every gram of crack as 100 grams of powder cocaine,
based partly on its highly addictive nature and the violence that
showed up in the 1980s as the result of its widespread use.

But detractors say the drug culture has changed and that the policy
has fostered unintended consequences.

Retail crack dealers and low-level users such as Mr. Walker, for
instance, end up receiving "longer sentences than the wholesale drug
distributors who supply them the powder cocaine from which their crack
is produced," a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling states.

Mr. Walker's defense attorney, John Cavett, argued Wednesday in court
that rules boosting the sentences for crack cocaine also unfairly
target black men, who make up 85 percent of crack defendants in the
federal system, records show.

He pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court precedent that, in recent years,
has given federal trial judges the authority to disregard the
sentencing guidelines in recognition of such unfairness.

"The invisible elephant in the courtroom," Mr. Cavett said, "is that
this was, is, and always will be racist."

Records show Chattanooga federal Judge Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice has
begun to sentence crack cocaine defendants as if their crimes involved
powder cocaine because of the U.S. attorney general's recognition this
year that the sentencing guidelines need to be fixed.

Judge Edgar, though, said he doesn't want to legislate from the
bench.

"I'm not comfortable setting public policy with regard to controlled
substances," he said Wednesday in court.

[sidebar]

A DANGEROUS DRUG

Congress targeted crack cocaine for tougher prison sentences in the
1980s because:

* It was highly addictive

* Crack users and dealers were more likely to be violent

* Crack was more harmful to users

* Crack use was prevalent among teens

* Crack's low cost was making it more popular