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Fix Injustice Created By Too-Tough Rules

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2007

On Nov. 1, with little fanfare, Congress accepted a long-needed correction to prison sentencing guidelines for people caught selling crack cocaine.

For 23 years, people caught with as little as five grams of crack faced a "mandatory minimum" sentence of five years. By contrast, people would have to have 500 grams of powder cocaine - 100 times more - to get such a stiff sentence.

Now the quantity of cocaine, not its form, will determine the prison sentence.

But what to do with those sentenced under the old Draconian law?

The U.S. Sentencing Commission met in Washington the other day to consider releasing some of those sent to prison under the old sentencing guidelines. As many as 19,500 inmates would qualify for release if the new sentencing rules were made retroactive.

A legal precedent exists for such a move. Sentences have been reduced retroactively for drug offenses involving LSD, marijuana cultivation and the painkiller OxyContin, though far fewer prisoners were affected. One representative of the Justice Department warned the panel about the danger of releasing "large numbers of convicted drug offenders into vulnerable communities."

But as U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton told the commission, "I don't see how we can say that someone sentenced on Oct. 30 is getting a different, longer sentence than someone sentenced on Nov. 1."

If Congress believes that crack-cocaine prison sentences were excessive and unfair, making the change retroactive is the right thing to do. That thousands of people would be released should not be the deciding factor.

At the same time, the federal courts should stop taking criminal drug trials from the state courts, where they belong. The states best know what crimes to confront and how to confront them.

The federal courts should return to their original purpose of hearing major criminal cases that cut across state lines or exceed local authority and resources, not putting small-time drug dealers in jail.

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