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Lawmaker sees Action on Crack Sentences
Reuters
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
By: Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress could limit the early release of crack-cocaine offenders as part of possible deal with the Bush administration to reduce a wide disparity in cocaine sentences, an influential lawmaker said on Tuesday.
U.S. Senator Joe Biden said there is growing support in Congress for revising a 22-year-old law that sets far harsher federal penalties for crack cocaine, which is more likely to be used by blacks, than powder cocaine.
A Justice Department willingness to reduce the disparities and revise a mandatory minimum sentence for crack possession makes a potential deal possible, said Biden, a Delaware Democrat.
He said he could consider in return the Bush administration's urgent plea to limit a pending release of crack offenders whose sentences were cut by a federal panel.
"This is the moment to act," Biden told reporters after a hearing of his Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and drugs. "There's an overwhelming consensus that something has to be done about disparities."
Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said, "I think we're on the road to doing something right. I'm ready to get busy," However, he cautioned at the hearing, "If you weaken too much the sentencing, we're going to have more crime and a more difficult time prosecuting."
At issue is federal legislation passed in 1986 in response to fears of a growing and violent crack epidemic that imposed harsher sentences for that form of the drug, which is smoked, than for powder, which is usually sniffed.
Crimes involving 5 grams of crack, about the size of two sugar cubes, for example, draw the same penalties as 500 grams (17.6 ounces) of powder. Two years later Congress passed a mandatory five-year sentence for simple crack possession.
Civil rights advocates and many legal experts say the disparity has little practical value and discriminates against blacks.
Pressure for action increased after the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year reduced recommended sentences for federal crack offenders, then made the reductions retroactive to those already sentenced. The reductions take effect March 3.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey has warned that courts and communities are unprepared to cope with the potential immediate release of 1,600 crack offenders and urged Congress to restrict the retroactive reductions to the least dangerous offenders. But he has also said he is willing to discuss changes in the sentencing law, which Biden welcomed.
"I'm willing to consider a compromise (as long as) ... there's a significant change relative to disparities, a significant change relative to minimum mandatory, and in return for that I'm willing to talk about a meaningful change in retroactivity," Biden said.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
This article was originally published by Reuters.
