Pubdate: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle Contact: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 Fax: (713) 220-3575 Website: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Michelle R. Davis, Knight Ridder Tribune STUDY NOTES SHORTER SENTENCES AS DRUG TRAFFICKING CASES SOAR WASHINGTON -- Convicted federal drug offenders are spending less time behind bars, but more of them are being prosecuted, a study of judicial records shows. The shorter sentences, during a 1992-1998 period that began in the final year of the Bush administration and includes most of the Clinton administration, suggest that federal judges and prosecutors are finding ways around tough mandatory minimum sentences mandated by Congress to crack down on drug traffickers. To some experts, the findings also suggest that federal agents are increasingly nailing "small fry" drug offenders rather than the kingpins whom federal agencies are suited to pursue. "There has been an undue emphasis on the lesser figures in drug trafficking because they're easier to convict," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The study was done by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a government performance analysis center in Washington that is associated with Syracuse University. Researchers found that the average federal drug sentence dropped about 20 percent between 1992 and 1998. The Justice Department did not dispute the figures. "We have been aware of this trend for several years," spokesman John Russell said. For the Drug Enforcement Administration, which brings most drug cases to federal courts, the average sentence dropped to 75 months in 1998 from 94 months in 1992. Results for individual judicial districts varied dramatically. DEA-instigated federal drug sentences in the New York City area, for example, fell to fewer than 70 months in 1998 from more than 140 months in 1992. Meanwhile, in western North Carolina the average soared from 36 months to 103 months. Nationally, the number of federal drug prosecutions rose to an all-time high of 21,571 in 1998, up 16 percent from 1992. DEA and the Customs Service, the second-largest narcotics enforcement agency, remain focused on fighting the marijuana trade. In 1998, convictions involving marijuana totaled 34 percent of all their drug cases, compared to 28 percent for powder cocaine and 17 percent for crack cocaine. The marijuana quantities are large, however. To rate a 5-year mandatory federal drug sentence, a trafficker would have to deal more than 100 kilos of marijuana, compared to 500 grams of cocaine. Bob Weiner, spokesman for U.S. drug-policy coordinator Barry R. McCaffrey, called the new report "a mixed batch of statistics." He said it was obvious that most arrests involve smaller cases. "There's only one person at the top of the pyramid and everybody else is down from that," he said. "Big cases, big problems. Little cases, little problems," said Eric E. Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, a Washington nonpartisan think tank. "The U.S. Justice Department is focusing too much of its effort on low-level cases." But analysts also say that federal judges, who have long complained that mandatory sentencing is too rigid and severe, have found a way around those mandates with the cooperation of Congress and the Clinton administration. One of those bypasses is a "safety valve" provision adopted by Congress in 1994, giving judges more flexibility in sentencing low-level cases. Since then, drug defendants who cooperate with prosecutors have been rewarded with shorter sentences, Russell said. Federal agencies should do more to go after kingpins because local police do not have the resources, said Mark Mauer, assistant director for The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based policy research and advocacy group. "The justification for federal prosecution is that they have the resources to handle complex, high-level cases," he said. The report "suggests that U.S. prosecutors are not targeting the most serious cases." The matter is with the courts and out of the Customs Service's hands, said spokesman Dean Boyd. "Customs has absolutely no control over sentencing," he said. "We don't do sentencing." - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drug Cases Average change in drug sentences between 1992 and 1998 in DEA cases brought nationwide and in the four federal judicial districts of Texas: - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE IN SENTENCES U.S.-20% East Texas-39% North Texas3% South Texas-30% West Texas-37% Source: Transactional Records - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk