SENATE CUTS CRACK COCAINE POSSESSION SENTENCES

COLUMBIA (AP) -- Heavy sentences for crack cocaine possession and dealing
would be lightened to match penalties for cocaine offenses under a bill
adopted by the Senate on Thursday.

It was part of an intricate compromise on a House truth-in-sentencing bill
that finally won support of black senators who had tried to delay action on
the legislation.

A first offense for possession of less than a gram of crack cocaine is
considered a felony and brings up to five years in prison and a $5,000
fine. The bill the Senate approved lessens that to a misdemeanor with no
more than two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

"You'd face the same sentence as if you had that same amount of cocaine,"
said Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, who helped broker the compromise.

"What we've done is basically put everything on an equal keel, so there's
not that disparity there," said Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland.

About 21 percent of the people in prisons around the state are there for
serious drug offenses, according the Corrections Department. Among black
men and women, more than 27 percent are in prison on "dangerous drug"
offenses, according to the Corrections Department. The agency's spokeswoman
could not immediately say how many of those people are in prison on crack
cocaine convictions.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said lowering crack cocaine penalties could
fundamentally change the state's prison population and return voting rights
to black men.

"When those men get out, they're going to be able to register to vote and
participate in the political process," he said.

The change reversed Pinckney's efforts earlier in the week that would have
raised powder cocaine sentences to the same level as crack cocaine. "We
thought about that for about minute," said Sen. Bob Waldrep, R-Anderson,
who worked with Hutto on the compromise.

The Senate substantially altered what the House sought.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, authored a bill requiring
convicts to serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentences if they get
work, education or behavior credits. Inmates without those credits would
serve all of their sentences.

Under current law, that standard is applied to crimes with sentences of 20
years or more.

The bill returning to the House imposes the standard on major crimes
involving sentences of 15 years or more, as well as on three crimes
carrying 10 year sentences: assault and battery of a high and aggravated
nature; criminal domestic violence and third degree criminal sexual conduct.

Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia, railed against the House plan Wednesday.
"Where are you going to get the money to lock up all of these people?"
Patterson asked.

Hutto said the tougher sentencing would cost the state at least $59 million
in the first year. But within three years, the costs could soar to more
than $500 million as inmates served longer terms, he said.

The Senate bill also carriers a requirement that the state begin collecting
data on traffic offenses to determine if law enforcement use racial profiling.

It's very important "to go on the record that we're opposed to one third of
the citizens in South Carolina being profiled just because they are black,"
Ford said.