Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 2009
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Copyright: 2009 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html
Website: http://www.newsobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Thomasi Mcdonald, Staff Writer

ENDING DISPARITY IN COCAINE SENTENCING LAWS HAS SUPPORT IN NC

RALEIGH - Some state criminal justice advocates say they would welcome
an end to the disparity in federal sentences for crack cocaine and
powder cocaine crimes.

The issue has spawned several fair sentencing bills and received
national attention after the Obama administration recently signaled
its support, particularly the elimination of harsh penalties for
low-level drug offenses. "We wholeheartedly support those proposals,"
said Katy Parker, legal director of the North Carolina chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union in Raleigh. "There is no medical or
scientific distinction in powder cocaine or the base form known as
crack. There's no research proving that crack is more addictive than
powder cocaine."

Wake County District Attorney Colin Willoughby said a public hearing
on Capitol Hill today on the issue is "a step in the right direction."
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, which prosecutes federal cases,
declined to comment on the issue. Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison
also declined to comment, saying he has not had a chance to review the
proposed legislation.

There are several ways a local drug case may end up in federal court.
Speaking during a national teleconference Wednesday, former Western
Tennessee federal prosecutor Veronica F. Coleman-Davis said a joint
task force consisting of local and federal authorities may make a drug
arrest and the suspect may bargain with police to be prosecuted at the
state level, where there are lesser penalties, if he or she
cooperates. Willoughby said there also are instances in Wake County
where local prosecutors ask the federal government to prosecute a
case, particularly if the drugs have been intercepted at the airport
or on an interstate highway, or for cases "that may have a larger impact."

Willoughby noted what critics of the mandatory minimum sentencing have
long contended: The laws are discriminatory and disproportionately
affect the poor and people of color, particularly African-Americans.
Charmaine Fuller, a lobbyist and criminal justice advocate with the
Carolina Justice Policy Center in Durham, said the sentencing
disparity also depletes state and federal corrections budgets while
needlessly filling up prisons. "This 'pseudo-Tough on Crime' policy
has led to uncontrollable growth in our federal and state prisons,"
Fuller said.

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs'
or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them,"
Kerlikowski said this week in a Wall Street Journal report. "We are
not at war with people in this country." 
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