Plan narrows gap between crack, powdered cocaine sentences

In this report:

• Bigger criminals targeted
• Reno supports commission's recommendations

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton has approved a proposal to reduce the difference between sentences for selling crack cocaine and powdered cocaine.

The plan offered by Attorney General Janet Reno and Clinton's drug-policy adviser, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, would lower the difference in sentencing for the two different forms of cocaine to a 10-1 ratio.

In other words, the mandatory, five-year sentence for selling 25 grams of crack also would apply to dealing 250 grams of powder cocaine. The law now allows a sentence of five years for selling 5 grams of crack or 500 grams of cocaine, a 100-to-1 ratio.

Critics of existing sentences say they are unfair to minorities and poor people who favor crack, which they say is cheaper but no worse than powder. Others say crack is far more addictive than powdered cocaine because of its concentrated form.

CNN's Eileen O'Connor reports.

It is by no means certain, however, that the proposal will make it unscathed through Congress.

For example, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California and chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, thinks the difference in sentencing for the two forms of cocaine is still too wide.

"It's not good enough," she says. "Crack wouldn't be crack without powdered cocaine."

She adds, "I'm just annoyed they have not discussed with me or the caucus where they were going on this issue. Most people (in Congress) don't even know about the plan."

There are others who worry that the overall effect of the proposal is to reduce drug sentences, and no one in Congress wants to be accused of being soft on drugs.

But McCaffrey says appearances are deceiving.

"It's going to allow us to target U.S. law enforcement more effectively on larger drug criminals," he says. "So I think it'll be well-received by thoughtful men and women in Congress."

McCaffrey says he believes Congress will be favorably disposed once it considers the cost of keeping thousands of people in prison for low-level drug crimes.

"There's a lot of money, $17 billion, wrapped up in running a gigantic prison system in the United States," he says.

McCaffrey thinks the proposal may reduce cocaine sales without creating "what, at first glance, looked like a tremendous racial injustice, which was unintended, I think, when these guidelines were put down."

And McCurry, Clinton's spokesman, says there is good reason for the disparity in the sentences for the two forms of the drug.

"These are two different drugs, associated with two different types of social behavior," he says. "Crack cocaine is associated with much more violent, much more dangerous, much more anti-social behavior."

Reno's recommendation, made in a July 3 letter to Clinton, appears to fall somewhere in the middle. She echoed the sentiments of an April 29 report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which proposed narrowing the disparity while leaving high penalties for crack possession in place.

Waters said she fears conservatives will "walk lockstep" in rejecting the proposal and will try to raise the penalties even further, while liberals will reject it because it does not call for equal sentences for cocaine crimes, regardless of the drug's form.

Related sites:

• U.S. Department of Justice

Search for related CNN stories:   [Help] Tip: You can restrict your search to the title of a document. Example: title:New Year's Resolutions

Sound off on our message boards Tell us what you think! You said it...

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.