CRACK, POWDER COCAINE CRIMES DESERVE SAME TERMS, US SAYS

WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department released a study yesterday that
confirmed there is disparity in federal sentencing between crimes involving
crack and powder cocaine, but said the difference was not as wide as has
been believed and suggested it be narrowed by increasing penalties for
possession of powder cocaine.

That suggestion runs counter to the US Sentencing Commission's repeated
attempts to narrow the gap by having people convicted of possession with
intent to distribute crack cocaine get the same lower sentence as someone
convicted of possession with intent to distribute the same amount of powder
cocaine.

Current law mandates a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for
someone convicted of possession with intent to distribute at least five
grams of crack. Under the Justice Department proposal, someone convicted of
possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine with intent to distribute would also
receive five years.

Minority and civil rights groups have complained bitterly about the current
disparity in sentencing, arguing that it illustrates racial insensitivity
because minorities are disproportionately convicted of selling crack.

The US Sentencing Commission has made a series of proposals that would
effectively reduce the sentences some first-time crack offenders receive.

That's the wrong way to go, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson told the
commission yesterday.

"Lowering crack penalties now would simply send the wrong message, that we
care less about the people and the communities victimized by crack," he
said. "It is something that we simply cannot support."

In 1995, Congress rejected the commission's effort to have crack and powder
cocaine offenses treated the same, and the Justice Department's position
now mirrors that of the House Republicans who led that fight.

Minority and civil rights groups have pressed demands for parity in crack
and powder cocaine sentencing, relying on the mandatory minimum sentencing
guidelines.

The Justice Department's study, analyzing federal crack and cocaine
sentences handed down from 1996 to 2000, was intended to undercut such an
argument.

The study indicates that people convicted of crack offenses do serve more
time than people convicted of similar powder cocaine offenses, but that the
difference is not as great as the sentencing guidelines might suggest.

In 2000, for example, defendants convicted of trafficking in less than 25
grams of crack received an average sentence that was 4.8 times longer than
the sentence handed down to defendants convicted of trafficking in similar
amounts of powder cocaine.

"If the debate over the appropriate sentences for crack and powder is to
have any real meaning, it must be based on actual data, and it must take
into account the more dangerous nature of crack cocaine," the study report
contends.

Crack, according to the study, is more psychologically addictive and more
closely associated with violence than powder cocaine.

"Crack can easily be broken down and packaged into very small and
inexpensive quantities for distribution, making it particularly attractive
to some of the more vulnerable members of our society," Thompson said.
"Crack dealers have fulfilled its promise by marketing it to these
vulnerable groups. Additionally, the open-air street markets and crack
houses used for the distribution of crack cocaine contribute heavily to the
deterioration of neighborhoods and communities."

Critics of the current sentencing practices said they do not think that
changing the amount of crack cocaine required to mandate a five- year
sentence would indicate that law enforcement does not care about
communities devastated by the drug.

"If they cared about those folks, there would be alternatives," said Angela
Arboleda, civil rights policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza,
a coalition of Latino groups. "There would be treatment."

La Raza and the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights have both called for
parity in the way crack and cocaine crimes are treated.

The seven-member US Sentencing Commission does not have the authority to
change federal laws on mandatory sentencing. But Congress would have to
pass a law overriding the commission's proposals. If it failed to do so,
the commission's proposals would go into effect on Nov. 1.