SUPREME COURT RULES ON SENTENCING GUIDELINES PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #299 - Mon, 17 Jan 2005 Last week's pair of decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court on federal sentencing brought a welcome ruling and also create concerns that Congress will rewrite the sentencing guidelines in an even more harsh manner. The first decision ruled appropriately that federal sentencing guidelines violate the right to a jury trial. Prosecutors routinely raised various peripheral issues - not heard by the jury - that unduly increased the length of a sentence. The second decision changed the way federal judges determine sentences, ruling they no longer are required to follow sentencing guidelines - in fact mandatory rules written by a sentencing commission - that have been in place for two decades. The court found the sentencing guidelines unconstitutional because judges factored them into the calculation after conviction - a violation of the Sixth Amendment. Prior to the ruling, 97% of federal defendants pled guilty - as a result of a plea bargain - to reduced charges in order to avoid a jury trial which could result in a much longer sentence. Thus federal prosecutors made the decisions that led to the length of sentence - which the judge followed using the so-called guidelines, as required. We doubt that there are many United States daily newspapers that have not provided news coverage of the decision. Many have, or will, carry editorial page content on the decision. Thus letters to the editor of your local papers, as well as those shown as having clippings in the MAP archive, are appropriate. Either the links http://www.mapinc.org/topics/federal+sentencing or http://www.mapinc.org/topics/sentencing+guidelines will bring up a list of potential targets for your letters. Because editorial page content makes superb targets for your letters, we have created a list linking to much of that content to date, below. A blog written by Nora Callahan, executive director of the November Coalition has ideas for your letter writing efforts. Start at http://november.org/blog/index.php/20050113 and move forward thru the blog using the calendar on the upper right of the page. The Drug Policy Alliance wrote "The Court's decision now opens the door for Congress to address the issue of harsh federal sentences. But there's no telling what Congress might do with this opportunity. In fact, we already know that some in Congress will take the Supreme Court decision as an opportunity to increase prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders." Please visit this page for more information - and actions you may take: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/011205sentencing.cfm Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do Links to Editorial Page Clippings Published Thursday, January 13th US IL: Editorial: High Court Tweaks Rules in the Interest of Fairness URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n085/a06.html US NM: OPED: A Just Plea URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n076/a02.html Published Friday, January 14th US DC: Editorial: The Court on Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n075/a11.html US NY: Editorial: Letting Judges Pass Judgment URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n091/a05.html US MA: Editorial: Judicious Leeway URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n075/a10.html US NY: Editorial: High Court's Gift to Judges URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n075/a05.html US MD: Editorial: Sentencing Sanity URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n085/a05.html US NY: Editorial: Justice Pendulum Swings URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n092/a04.html US TX: Editorial: Supreme Court's Sensible Changes to Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n092/a03.html US ME: Editorial: Supreme Court Ruling Better for Justice URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n085.a02.html US OR: Editorial: A Better Way to Set Prison Time URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n083/a10.html US MO: Editorial: Court's Decisions Tilt Toward Justice URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n082/a01.html US CO: Editorial: Elbow Room for U.S. Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n075/a07.html US MN: Column: Court Deepens Sentencing Doubts URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n092/a02.html Published Saturday, January 15th US VT: Editorial: Sensible Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n083/a12.html US PA: Editorial: Federal Sentencing Guidelines Give High Court's Ruling a Chance URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n084/a03.html US MI: Editorial: Let Judges Be Judges URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n085/a07.html US IA: Editorial: Allow Federal Judges Discretion in Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n082/a04.html US KY: Editorial: Rethinking Sentences URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n082/a03.html US FL: Editorial: More Discretion for Judges URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n083/a11.html Published Sunday, January 16th US IL: Editorial: A Verdict on Sentencing URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n093/a04.html US WI: Editorial: Remedying an Injustice URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n093/a03.html US PA: Editorial: Sentencing Guidelines: Restoring the 6th URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n085/a04.html US GA: Editorial: Mandatory Sentencing Rejection a Wise Ruling URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n093/a07.html US CA: Column: When Congress Plays Judge URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n089.a10.html Published Monday, January 17th US UT: Editorial: Checks and Balances URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n094.a14.html US WA: Editorial: Judicial Discretion URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n094.a01.html US RI: Editorial: Judges and Juries URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n094.a13.html Additional suggestions for writing letters to the editor are at: Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP's Media Activism Facilitator = Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to

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