Pubdate: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 Source: Times Argus (Barre, VT) Copyright: 2007 Times Argus Contact: http://www.timesargus.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/893 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1433/a04.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?244 (Sentencing - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/crack+cocaine Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Sentencing+Commission LETTING HYSTERIA SUBSIDE When the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted recently to allow retroactive reconsideration of some drug convictions, it was wisely chipping away at the edifice of injustice put in place as part of the nation's war on drugs. The commission is the federal agency that sets sentencing guidelines for the federal courts. The commission is part of the judicial branch, but its actions are not immune to the pressures and constraints of politics. Its members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and if the guidelines it promulgates clash too dramatically with the preferred policies of the administration in power or of the party in control of Congress, commission members could feel the heat. Democratic control of the Senate has allowed the commission greater room to maneuver in bringing moderation to the federal judiciary's sentencing policies. If Republicans controlled the Senate, commission members might have refrained from incurring senatorial wrath by taking the actions they announced. The commission's decision was intended to address the wide disparity between penalties imposed for powder and crack cocaine. This disparity took hold following the crack epidemic of the late 1980s when the prevalent view was that crack was a far more virulent form of cocaine. Since then, experts have changed their mind about the relative dangers of crack and powder cocaine. And yet because crack became most popular among African-Americans, the severe penalties imposed for crack offenses have taken a major toll in African-American communities. Critics have long denounced the racial bias inherent in a policy that imposes a 10-year minimum for possession of relatively small amounts of crack. The commission's ruling means that, as of March next year, prisoners may petition for their sentences to be reduced by 17 percent. That means that about 3,800 convicts may be eligible for early release next year. In all about 19,500 prisoners may be eligible for earlier release. One of the vice chairmen of the commission is Judge William Sessions, the U.S. District Court judge from Vermont, who was appointed to the commission by President Clinton. Sessions has been a supporter of the effort to reduce the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences. As he told The New York Times, "At its core, the question is one of fairness. This is an historic day. This system of justice is, and must always be, colorblind." It is time for the hysteria of the nation's war on drugs to subside. Judge Ruben Castillo, another commission member, told The Times, "No one has come before us to justify the 100-to-1 ratio." He was referring to the disparity between crack and powder cocaine: It took only 50 grams of crack to earn a 10-year sentence; it took 5,000 grams of powder to earn the same sentence. The harm of drugs, and of the crime associated with drugs, is real enough without demagogues demanding punitive, racist penalties that multiply the harm to families and communities. The Sentencing Commission has taken welcome steps to redress that harm. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake