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 veggie
Registered: 07/26/04
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 Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties 
#6659950 - 03/12/07 12:19 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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March 11, 2007 - USA Today
Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties
 Momentum is building in Congress to ease crack cocaine sentencing guidelines, which the American Civil Liberties Union and other critics say have filled prisons with low-level drug dealers and addicts whose punishments were much worse than their crimes.
Federal prison sentences for possessing or selling crack have far exceeded those for powder cocaine for two decades. House Crime Subcommittee chairman Robert Scott, D-Va., a longtime critic of such sentencing policies, plans to hold hearings on crack sentences this year. In the Senate, Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama is drawing bipartisan support for his proposal to ease crack sentences.
"I believe that as a matter of law enforcement and good public policy that crack cocaine sentences are too heavy and can't be justified," Sessions says. "People don't want us to be soft on crime, but I think we ought to make the law more rational."
The mandatory federal sentencing guidelines passed by Congress in 1986 require a judge to impose the same sentence for possession of 5 grams of crack as for 500 grams of powder cocaine: five years in prison.
Congress passed the sentencing laws just after the fatal crack overdose of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias on June 19, 1986, and as crack was emerging in urban areas, says Alfred Blumstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh who researches crime. Crack cocaine was associated with violent, open-air drug markets, he says.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Congress | American Civil Liberties Union
"There was a lot of public concern about violence," Blumstein says.
Jesselyn McCurdy with the ACLU says much of the violence associated with crack stemmed from territorial disputes between dealers, not from those using the drug. She says the stricter sentences for crack have filled prisons with low-level, primarily African-American addicts rather than the major drug traffickers Congress sought to punish. An ACLU study in October 2006 found that 80% of crack defendants were black.
"People have seen how it plays out in racial disparities," McCurdy says. "The stumbling block on both sides of the aisle has been this issue around appearing to be soft on crime. But this is about equalizing an injustice."
Sessions' bill would lessen the sentencing disparity by increasing punishments for powder cocaine and decreasing them for crack. Crimes involving crack would still draw stiffer sentences, but the difference would not be as dramatic. The bill has drawn support from Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, a former state attorney general from Colorado, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, a former state attorney general from Arkansas, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court justice and attorney general.
In the House of Representatives, two bills calling for Congress to equalize the sentences for powder cocaine and crack were filed in January.
"We're going to address all the mandatory minimums," said Scott, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. "The crack cocaine is probably the most egregious because of its draconian number of years for relatively small amounts."
Opposition to weaker sentences has come from police, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies such as the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"We believe the current federal sentencing policy and guidelines for crack cocaine offenses are reasonable," Justice spokesman Dean Boyd says.
Higher penalties for crack offenses reflect its greater harm, he says, adding that crack traffickers are more likely to use weapons and have more significant criminal histories than powder cocaine dealers.
"Congress thought by having very harsh sentences, it would deter the spread of crack into the inner cities and around the country," Sessions says. "The truth is, it didn't stop it. It spread very rapidly. Now we need to ask ourselves, what is the right sentence for this bad drug. I think it's time to adjust. I think it's past time to do this."
Scientists say there is no pharmaceutical justification for having different sentencing rules for crack and powder cocaine.
The powder is cocaine hydrochloride salt, which can be snorted into the nose or dissolved in water and injected. Crack is cocaine mixed with water and ammonia or baking soda then heated to remove the hydrochloride. The resulting pure cocaine rock can be smoked.
"Once the cocaine is in your bloodstream, there's absolutely no difference between powder cocaine and crack cocaine," says Bruce Goldberger, director of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine.
The quicker the drug enters the bloodstream, the more intense its effects, he said. Two of the quickest routes are smoking, which is done with crack, and injecting, which is done by dissolving the powder and shooting it into the bloodstream.
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 Delta9Hippie
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Registered: 04/27/06
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: veggie]
#6659979 - 03/12/07 12:25 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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What assholes. Bipartisan support for lessening crack penalties? Let's start with pot. Or even better, a complete redesigning of the failed drug control system. Maybe they can agree that drug USE is not a crime against society?
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"During evolutionary time, the avenues of possible progress have become progressively restricted, until today only one remains...Man...has been suddenly appointed managing director of the biggest business of all, the business of evolution."
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Edited by Delta9Hippie (03/12/07 01:22 AM)
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: Delta9Hippie]
#6660601 - 03/12/07 06:22 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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> Bipartisan support for lessening crack penalties?
One word... "meth"
See, the crack our parents smoked was a lot, lot stronger than the crack people smoke today. Since crack isn't as bad as it used to be, we can open up some prison space that is very much needed to hold all the meth users. See, there is a new drug called meth, m-kay?, and it is really, really, bad for you. Just like crack used to be really bad for you, only meth is like a zillion million billion times worse. If you even look at meth, you can get addicted. It is almost as bad as the devil weed itself. (sarcasm)
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Schwip
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: Delta9Hippie]
#6660638 - 03/12/07 07:17 AM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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I think the lessening of ANY drug penalties is a good start.
I dont know about anyone else, but when I was into that garbage(rocks) it made no difference the legal status. It might as well been 100% legal.
Going to score, was akin to going to the corner store to get a six pack, only without hour restrictions(ie:could get it 24/7).......
Im sure this is the same in many areas for many of the really addictive drugs.
So harsh to not so harsh penalty all the same. People get hooked and they are going to use their substance of choice. Why complicate these poor souls even more with really horrid legal problems?
Legalize it ALL!
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" If the sky were to suddenly open up there would be no law. There would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories... the choices you've made, and the people you've touched. If this world were to end there would only be you and him and no-one else. "
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"MAN! You know there aint no such thing as left over crack!"
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GWAR
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: Schwip]
#6661080 - 03/12/07 01:17 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Schwip said:
I dont know about anyone else, but when I was into that garbage(rocks) it made no difference the legal status. It might as well been 100% legal.
Going to score, was akin to going to the corner store to get a six pack, only without hour restrictions(ie:could get it 24/7).......
Agreed... That shit is everywhere in some communities. You don't even need to ask, it comes to you. Dealers were always coming up to me trying to sell to me. And people out in the middle of the street hittin' the pipe while little kids are playing nearby...
I remember one time wheile I was clean for awhile.. and I went across the street from my home to get a pizza and a 6 pack and some crackhead came up offering me a small rock to buy him a slice of pizza... luckily the rock looked pitiful so I stayed clean
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"Freedom to all the people... Brave, true and strong... Freedom to all the people... Unless I think you're wrong!!!"
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Sebastian23
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: GWAR]
#6661904 - 03/12/07 05:55 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Start with pot.
I think crack *IS* wack.
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"If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment
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it was written on." -Terence McKenna
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eastuvdariver
Stranger thanwho?
Registered: 01/24/07
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: Sebastian23]
#6664209 - 03/13/07 12:24 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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seriously, of all things you would lessen the penalty for.
i'm all for loosened drug laws but i can think of better places to start, like with drugs that don't cost people their teeth, or their life.
crack is a-ok, just watch out for that dangerous lsd like, more powerful than lsd i mean, the new marijuana, that plague on our society, you know the one they call salvia.
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Schwip
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: eastuvdariver]
#6664220 - 03/13/07 12:29 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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im just speculating here and really could never begin to guess the motives of said lawmakers.
but in cities that have major crack problems, the law is already pretty much ignoring pot.
i think they are just exercising futility with the crack, clogging jails, wasting man hours, and not having the time to really protect people from the robbers, rapists, murderers, etc.
Lessening the focus on crack would free up man hours, cost the cities less, and cause more focus on said other crimes.....
could be wrong, but thats how i see it.
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" If the sky were to suddenly open up there would be no law. There would be no rule. There would only be you and your memories... the choices you've made, and the people you've touched. If this world were to end there would only be you and him and no-one else. "
..............
"MAN! You know there aint no such thing as left over crack!"
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GWAR
Scumdog of theUniverse
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: Schwip]
#6668320 - 03/14/07 12:48 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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^^^^^^^^
Ya, I agree with Schwip. Cities with crack problems don't have much time for pot. I mean, they are still busting major grow-ops and shit like that on occasion, but I'm sure that their main focus is more serious crimes. And crack is just taking attention away from other matters that, IMHO, are much more important than some crackheads smokin a couple rocks in an alley (used to be me ).
Now, what they are doing while high, or what they are doing to get the money to get high, that is another matter. If it was legal (and cheaper) maybe we wouldnt have as much of that type of violent crack crime.
With that being said, I would just like to add... Don't do drugs!
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"Freedom to all the people... Brave, true and strong... Freedom to all the people... Unless I think you're wrong!!!"
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
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Re: Lawmakers consider lessening crack penalties [Re: GWAR]
#6668357 - 03/14/07 01:01 PM (6 years, 3 months ago) |
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Thats actually a good point.
There is a huge crack problem here, and I cant remember EVER, in four years of living here, hearing about a grow-op busted.
It could be because we're close to Canada, and all the stuff is coming from there.
I dont really know.
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After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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