COCAINE PENALTIES

A decision by the National Sentencing Commission will lighten prison
terms for as many as 2,500 crack cocaine users and sellers.

The Daily Journal reported the story earlier. Basically, the
penalties for crack cocaine, a crystallized form of the drug that is
smoked, will be lowered to the penalties for powdered cocaine, that is snorted.

The average crack conviction draws a prison sentence of 10 years. A
powder user can expect seven years.

There's a racial overtone to the story, too. Crack cocaine is
generally thought to be far more prevalent in the African-American
community. Over the years, many had complained that the sentences had
as much to do with the skin color of the defendant as they did with
the war on drugs.

Kankakee County Chief Judge Clark Erickson is afraid, too, that
casual readers of the story may be misled. The lowering of the
penalties deals only with federal convictions, a relatively small
slice of drug arrests. If you have a relative or friend incarcerated
in the state penitentiary, there will be no break coming for them.
The penalties for state use remain the same. Illinois, Erickson said,
has never had a sentencing gap between crack and powdered cocaine.
Both are treated similarly under state law.

Typically, Erickson said, a first time user with no prior record, can
expect probation.

But Illinois law is far tougher when it comes to cocaine sales. State
law is especially harsh when it comes to cocaine sales within 1,000
feet of a school or park, Erickson says. If you plot out Kankakee,
you don't come up with a whole lot of territory outside of that 1,000 feet.

A conviction for sales within the 1,000 feet would mean a minimum of
four years in the penitentiary under state sentencing guidelines, he
said. The new federal guidelines will be fairer, but there's also a
warning for anyone who thinks it's a let-up on Illinois cocaine use, or sales.