Justice Recommends Increased Penalties for Powder Cocaine March 22, 2002
News Summary
The U.S. Justice Department has recommended increasing penalties for possession of powder cocaine, the Boston Globe reported March 20.The recommendation comes after a new study by the department disputed critics who say there is a huge disparity in the sentences handed down for possession with intend to distribute crack cocaine, versus penalties for distributing powdered cocaine. The Justice Department report acknowledged that sentences for crack were, on average, 4.8 times longer than those for cocaine. But the authors said that critics didn't take into account the more dangerous nature of crack.
Under the justice proposal, a mandatory five-year prison term would apply to anyone convicted of distributing 500 grams of powdered cocaine, but only five grams of crack.
For some time, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has been trying to narrow the sentencing disparity between the two crimes. The commission recommended that people convicted of distributing crack receive the same lower sentence that applies to powder cocaine.
"Lowering crack penalties now would simply send the wrong message, that we care less about the people and the communities victimized by crack," said Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. "It is something that we simply cannot support."
"If the debate over the appropriate sentences for crack and powder is to have any real meaning, it must be based on actual data, and it must take into account the more dangerous nature of crack cocaine," the report stated.
Minority and civil-rights groups argue that the sentencing guidelines promote racial insensitivity because minorities are disproportionately convicted of selling crack.
"If they cared about those folks, there would be alternatives," said Angela Arboleda, civil-rights policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a coalition of Latino groups. "There would be treatment."
The coalition, along with the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights, has called for parity in the way crack and cocaine crimes are treated.
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