GREAT MINDS OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT
JACOB SULLUM, REASON - There seems to be wide agreement in Congress that
the disparity in sentencing between smokable and snortable cocaine,
because of which five grams of crack gets you the same mandatory
five-year sentence as 500 grams of powder, is unjust, makes no
pharmacological sense, and leads to racially skewed punishment. Even
hard-line drug warriors such as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) are having
second thoughts:
"Congress thought by having very harsh sentences, it would deter the
spread of crack into the inner cities and around the country. 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."
But how to fix the problem? Congress could simply eliminate the
sentencing disparity by telling federal courts to treat crack the same
way they treat cocaine powder-the solution recommended by the U.S.
Sentencing Commission. But that would be too easy; more to the point, it
would make legislators look too easy on crime. So Sessions has
introduced a bill that would reduce the disparity without eliminating it
and do so partly by increasing the penalties for cocaine powder
offenses. How is it that federal penalties for cocaine possession are
suddenly too lenient?
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/119115.html
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JACOB SULLUM, REASON - There seems to be wide agreement in Congress that
the disparity in sentencing between smokable and snortable cocaine,
because of which five grams of crack gets you the same mandatory
five-year sentence as 500 grams of powder, is unjust, makes no
pharmacological sense, and leads to racially skewed punishment. Even
hard-line drug warriors such as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) are having
second thoughts:
"Congress thought by having very harsh sentences, it would deter the
spread of crack into the inner cities and around the country. 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."
But how to fix the problem? Congress could simply eliminate the
sentencing disparity by telling federal courts to treat crack the same
way they treat cocaine powder-the solution recommended by the U.S.
Sentencing Commission. But that would be too easy; more to the point, it
would make legislators look too easy on crime. So Sessions has
introduced a bill that would reduce the disparity without eliminating it
and do so partly by increasing the penalties for cocaine powder
offenses. How is it that federal penalties for cocaine possession are
suddenly too lenient?
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/119115.html
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