Fairer Sentences in Prospect

After far too long and far too much posturing, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and the White House drug policy director have stood up for fairer penalties for cocaine possession. Tuesday, President Clinton embraced their recommendation to reduce the unwarranted disparity between the sentences for possession of crack cocaine and possession of powder cocaine. Now the question is will Congress have the common sense to follow suit.

Under federal law in effect for more than a decade, anyone convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack receives a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. To trigger the same five-year sentence for powder cocaine possession the level is 500 grams.

The sentencing law was Congress’ response to escalating drug use during the early 1980s, and the 100-to-1 disparity sprang from concern about the violence associated with the crack trade. But this policy has produced unintended results and has few strong defenders now. It often punishes low-level pushers just as harshly as the high-level dealers who profit enormously from the street trade. One result is that 20% of all federal prison cells are now occupied by low-level drug criminals, most with no record of violence.

The mandatory minimums also present a distasteful sign of racial inequity. About 96% of those prosecuted for crack possession are blacks or Latinos, according to federal statistics. The U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected a claim by five African Americans that prosecution under the law was racially biased, but that perception lingers. And with good reason.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, created by Congress in 1985 to develop a more uniform policy, tried last year to remedy this situation, but the effort was blocked by the administration, wary of being labeled soft on crime in an election year. The panel tried again in April, this time proposing to reduce but not eliminate the disparity.

The recommendation from Reno and drug czar Barry McCaffrey follows the commission’s approach. If adopted by Congress, it would apply the five-year mandatory prison sentence to those possessing 25 grams of crack or 250 grams of powder cocaine. This 10-to-1 disparity is still not desirable. Simple possession of cocaine in any form should be punished equally. But Reno and McCaffrey’s plan is nonetheless a welcome signal that some good sense may be returning to the drug wars. Congress should take note.