Examining crack sentencing in the new Congress
Today’s Wall Street Journal has this extended article discussing how the new Congress might impact federal sentencing rules. The article focuses particularly on the long-running crack-cocaine sentencing debate, and it suggests that the US Sentencing Commission has an amendment to the crack guidelines in the works. Here is how the article begins:
With Democrats poised to take control of Congress, law-enforcement officials are preparing to defend two decades of federal sentencing policies that mandated harsh prison terms on a variety of crimes and led to a boom in the prison population.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Robert Scott (D., Va.) have already said they plan hearings early in the term to look at how nonviolent drug offenders are punished under mandatory minimum laws. An early target will be the prison terms mandated by Congress for crack-cocaine convictions.
Under current law, someone caught with five grams of crack gets a five-year sentence, while it takes 500 grams of powder cocaine to trigger the same sentence, even though there is no physiological difference. Critics have long maintained that the law unfairly targets African-American communities, where crack is more prevalent. In contrast, suburban white users tend to prefer cocaine in its powder form. Mr. Conyers has called the crack-cocaine sentences the “most outrageous example of the unfairness of mandatory minimums.”
Democrats are buoyed by recent signals from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for judges to use in an advisory capacity when they hand down sentences. Members of the commission are likely to recommend a change in the crack-cocaine penalties next year, according to commission members. The commission has tried since 1995 to bring the penalties for crack crimes more in line with powder cocaine but the Republican-controlled Congress has ignored past attempts.
Some recent related posts:
- How could and will this election impact federal sentencing policy?
- Figuring out election results for sentencing fans
- The big other branch questions after the election
- FAMM’s view of the new political landscape
- More speculations about Congress and sentencing
UPDATE: Interestingly diverse reactions to the WSJ article can be found at Crime & Consequences and White Collar Crime Prof Blog.