Pubdate: Sun, 30 Dec 2007
Source: Daily Journal, The (IL)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily Journal Publishing Co., L.L.C.
Contact:  http://www.daily-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2805
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
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?217 (Drug-Free Zones)

COCAINE PENALTIES

A decision by the National Sentencing Commission will lighten prison 
terms for as many as 2,500 crack cocaine users and sellers.

The Daily Journal reported the story earlier. Basically, the 
penalties for crack cocaine, a crystallized form of the drug that is 
smoked, will be lowered to the penalties for powdered cocaine, that is snorted.

The average crack conviction draws a prison sentence of 10 years. A 
powder user can expect seven years.

There's a racial overtone to the story, too. Crack cocaine is 
generally thought to be far more prevalent in the African-American 
community. Over the years, many had complained that the sentences had 
as much to do with the skin color of the defendant as they did with 
the war on drugs.

Kankakee County Chief Judge Clark Erickson is afraid, too, that 
casual readers of the story may be misled. The lowering of the 
penalties deals only with federal convictions, a relatively small 
slice of drug arrests. If you have a relative or friend incarcerated 
in the state penitentiary, there will be no break coming for them. 
The penalties for state use remain the same. Illinois, Erickson said, 
has never had a sentencing gap between crack and powdered cocaine. 
Both are treated similarly under state law.

Typically, Erickson said, a first time user with no prior record, can 
expect probation.

But Illinois law is far tougher when it comes to cocaine sales. State 
law is especially harsh when it comes to cocaine sales within 1,000 
feet of a school or park, Erickson says. If you plot out Kankakee, 
you don't come up with a whole lot of territory outside of that 1,000 feet.

A conviction for sales within the 1,000 feet would mean a minimum of 
four years in the penitentiary under state sentencing guidelines, he 
said. The new federal guidelines will be fairer, but there's also a 
warning for anyone who thinks it's a let-up on Illinois cocaine use, or sales. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake