Clinton To Sign Bill Maintaining Judicial Disparity

On the day his attorney general criticized tougher mandatory federal sentences for those arrested with crack cocaine than for those possessing powdered cocaine, President Clinton decided Thursday to sign into law a bill that maintains the apparent disparity.

The legislation blocks a move by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to equalize prison terms forviolations involving crack and powdered cocaine. While virtually all of those prosecuted for crack are black, powdered cocaine is used more by whites.

Speakers at last week’s Million Man March blamed racially biased federal drug laws for filling up the nation’s prisons. The Congressional Black Caucus told Clinton this week that the drug-law issue marks the “first test” of whether the administration wants to end racism in the criminal justice system.

Currently under federal law, persons who are caught with just 5 grams of crack must be sentenced to five years in prison, but it takes 500 grams of powdered cocaine to get the same five-year sentence.

A person would have to have 100 times more cocaine than crack to get the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence for distributing drugs, under federal guidelines.

“Clearly I think it should be equalized with respect to possession offenses,” Reno said, responding to questions about the disparity during her weekly news briefing. “And equally clearly, I don’t think the 100-to-1 ratio is fair.

Her comments underscore the controversy over a recommendation offered by a federal commission, rejected by Congress, championed by civil rights and legal advocates, and fought over last week in several federal prisons across the country.

Although Reno is unclear what ratio should be used, she said, some system needs to be developed to “make sure the person who distributed the powder that became the crack gets the more appropriately stiff sentence than the person who distributes the crack.”

White House aides say Clinton will preserve the harsher penalties for crack cocaine because he believes it takes a greater toll on communities through violence and gang activity.

However, at the same time Clinton signs the bill into law, he will emphasize he supports its provision calling for further study to see whether sentences for crack cocaine should be adjusted downward.

Aides say Clinton may quietly sign the bill into law as early as today.

“This is a total political call on their part,” said an official with the Sentencing Commission. “They are not going to do anything that will make the president look bad on the crime issue.”

The sentencing disparity has resulted in prisons overcrowded with low-level street dealers, who are disproportionately black and Hispanic, the commission concluded. Federal officials say blacks and Hispanics accounted for about 95 percent of the federal convictions for crack cocaine distribution in 1993.

In May, the sentencing commission, made up of federal judges and legal experts, voted to equalize the penalties for the two types of cocaine. Under this approach, persons caught with tiny amounts of crack should get probation or at most a few months in prison, so long as they did not have a gun or engage in violence, the panel said.

But on Oct. 18, two days after the huge march of black men in Washington, the House voted 332-83 to reject that recommendation. The Senate had done the same three weeks earlier. The votes marked the first time in the commission’s seven-year history that Congress moved to block one of its sentencing proposals from taking effect.

No similar mandatory sentences are imposed on users of other dangerous drugs, including heroin or LSD.