Sentencing Commission on cocaine/crack

Sentencing Commish on cocaine/crack

http://www.ussc.gov/PRESS/rel0407.htm

In addition to those earlier actions, the Commission unanimously
announced today that it will submit to Congress on or before May 15,
2007, a report on federal cocaine sentencing policy. The report will set
forth current data and information that continue to support the
Commission's consistently held position that the 100-to-1 crack-powder
drug quantity ratio significantly undermines various congressional
objectives set forth in the Sentencing Reform Act and elsewhere. The
Commission also will make recommendations to Congress in the report for
modifications to the statutory penalties for crack cocaine offenses. At
today's meeting, the Commission expressed its firm desire that this
report will facilitate prompt congressional action addressing the
100-to-1 crack-powder drug quantity ratio.

The Commission also voted today to promulgate an amendment that modifies
the penalties for crack cocaine offenses. The Commission described the
problems associated with the 100-to-1 drug quantity ratio as so urgent
and compelling that it promulgated the guideline amendment as a measure
to alleviate some of those problems.

The statutory penalties for crack cocaine offenses require a five-year
mandatory minimum sentence for a first-time trafficking offense
involving 5 grams or more of crack cocaine, and a ten-year mandatory
minimum penalty for a first-time trafficking offense involving 50 grams
or more of crack cocaine. When Congress established these penalties in
1986, the Commission responded by incorporating the statutory mandatory
minimum sentences into the guidelines to provide guideline sentencing
ranges that are above the statutory mandatory minimum penalties.
First-time offenses involving 5 grams or more of crack cocaine receive a
sentencing guideline range of 63 to 78 months, and first-time offenses
involving 50 grams or more of crack cocaine receive a sentencing
guideline range of 121 to 151 months, before accounting for other
relevant factors under the guidelines.

The Commission's amendment modifies the guideline drug quantity
thresholds to provide guideline sentencing ranges that include the
statutory mandatory minimum penalties for crack cocaine offenses.
Accordingly, under the amendment, a first-time trafficking offense
involving 5 grams of crack cocaine will receive a guideline sentencing
range of 51 to 63 months, and a first-time trafficking offense involving
50 grams or more of crack cocaine will receive a guideline sentencing
range of 97 to 121 months, before accounting for other relevant factors
under the guidelines. Under the statutory mandatory minimum penalties,
however, a five- and ten-year sentence will still be required,
respectively. As a result, the Commission's amendment provides some
relief to crack cocaine offenders impacted by the disparity created by
federal cocaine sentencing policy.

The Commission emphasized and expressed its strong view that the
amendment is only a partial solution to some of the problems associated
with the 100-to-1 drug quantity ratio. Any comprehensive solution to the
100-to-1 drug quantity ratio would require appropriate legislative
action by Congress.

The text of the Commission's amendments and its accompanying 2007 report
to Congress, Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy, will be available in
the coming weeks on the Commission's website, www.ussc.gov.