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| Mukasey: Convicts released early are likely to commit crimes, the attorney general warns. Ali Abbas/Reuters/file |
As many crack convicts are freed early, will crime rise
Of the 19,500 drug offenders eligible over the next 30 years to apply for early release, 3,417 have had their sentences reduced as of Monday.
from the April 9, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 4
Back in 1986, the 100-to-1 ratio was thought reasonable because crack was believed to be far more addictive and prone to provoking violence. Since then, scientific studies have concluded that crack cocaine and powder cocaine affect the individual the same way and are equally harmful.
In 1995, the Sentencing Commission determined that the violence associated with crack had more to do with the way it was sold on volatile street corners, rather than any inherent difference between crack and powder cocaine. It then recommended to Congress that the mandatory minimum sentences for the two types of cocaine be equalized. But Congress rejected the recommendation. In 1997 and again in 2002, the commission recommended the disparity at least be reduced from 100-to-1 to 5-to-1. Both times Congress refused.
Last spring, the commission voted again to reduce the disparity. This time, Congress did not actively oppose the change, and it went into effect this past fall.
In December, the commission then voted to make the reduction retroactive. That made the 19,500 federal prisoners currently serving crack sentences eligible for early release. The potential average sentence reduction would be a little more than two years.
The Justice Department urged Congress to again override the Sentencing Commission. It warned that retroactivity would add to an increase in crime.
But Congress allowed the commission's decision to stand. In part, that's because a commission analysis of federal crack-cocaine offenders also determined that 90 percent of their cases did not involve violence. Of those 1,500 who would be available for immediate release, the commission said, only 1 percent were deemed "career criminals" and 6 percent "supervisors" of drug rings.
In addition, the commission also required that inmates eligible for a reduced sentence apply to a federal judge. And the US attorney in every district can oppose any sentence reduction if he or she deems the inmate is too dangerous for early release.
"It seems like Mukasey is stoking the flames of fear, and I don't understand why," says Julie Stewart, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which advocates sentencing reform. "All of these people are only eligible for release. They're not guaranteed release. It's up to Mukasey's US attorneys to argue against their release, if they think they're going to go out and wreak havoc."
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