SENTENCING CHANGES AFFECT 1500 IN FLORIDA

Nearly 1,500 Florida crack cocaine felons have a chance at early
release, thanks to sentencing-guideline changes intended to ease
disparities between rock and powder cocaine cases.

Florida civil liberties advocates hail the changes as a step toward
ending much stiffer sentences for crack users that have had a
disproportionate impact on blacks for 20 years.

But the changes concern some in local law enforcement, who say
low-priced crack poses a greater danger.

"I'm not saying they can't get hooked on powder, but crack seems to
have more potency and you have more problems over it," Palm Beach
County sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said. "There's a direct
connection between the distribution of crack cocaine and its effects
on violent crime in the community."

Local and national officials say the changes will not flood streets
with felons, as eligibility for sentence reduction hearings is spread
out over a period of years and each applicant would require a judge's
determination that a lower sentence would not endanger public safety.

Florida is fourth in the nation in the number of inmates eligible for
sentence reduction hearings, with 1,456 of 19,500 nationwide as of
Nov. 1, according to data compiled by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

The lower sentencing guidelines the commission submitted to Congress
took effect Nov. 1 and were made retroactive this month. Starting
March 3, prisoners sentenced under the old guidelines can apply for
sentence reduction hearings.

People convicted of crack cocaine crimes have long faced much longer
sentences than powder coke convicts, based on fears that crack was
more addictive and presented a greater threat of crime.

Under a 1986 law, first-time crack offenders convicted of selling 5
grams face the same five-year minimum sentence as powder coke
offenders caught with 500 grams.

That 5 gram trigger for crack still stands. But separate from the
mandatory minimum is a structure for guiding judges who impose sentences.

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Dec. 9 that federal judges
can impose shorter terms than the guidelines specify if they disagree
with disparities between crack and powder cocaine sentences.

"This is about fairness: the punishment should fit the crime," said
Courtenay Strickland, director of public policy for the ACLU of
Florida. "Mandatory minimums don't allow that and neither do the
disparities that treat crack and powder cocaine differently."

According to the sentencing commission, 86 percent of those eligible
nationwide for reductions under the new guidelines are black.

The average reduction would be 27 months, from 152 to 125 months, the
commission estimates.

Roughly 64 percent of those eligible would see sentences reduced two
years or less, with 29 percent getting a year or less knocked off
their sentences.

However, 1,315 inmates across the country, about 8 percent of the
total, would have reductions of four years or more.

Each of Florida's three federal judicial districts is among the
nation's top districts in the number of inmates eligible for sentence
reduction hearings.

Florida's Southern District, from Key West to Vero Beach, has 361
crack felons eligible; the Northern District, from Gainesville to
Pensacola, has 323.

The Middle District, which stretches from Fort Myers to Tampa, Ocala,
Orlando and Jacksonville, has the second-most in the nation, with 772,
behind only the Eastern District of Virginia, with 1,404.

Nationwide, 3,804 inmates will be eligible for hearings within a year
and another 2,118 the following year