Good news for crack-cocaine convicts

WHEN THE U.S. Sentencing Commission voted June 30 to give retroactive effect for an amendment to the sentencing guidelines, it meant that some federal inmates sentenced for crack-cocaine offenses would receive reduced prison terms.

The commission estimates that 18 crack offenders sentenced in federal court in Philadelphia would be eligible for immediate release when the amendment goes into effect on Nov. 1, and that 15 others could be released by Nov. 1, 2012. An estimated 153 federal crack-offense inmates might be eligible for reduced sentences.

The commission's vote was in response to a law signed by President Obama last Aug. 3 that established lower penalties for crack offenses and eliminated a mandatory five-year prison term for simple possession of crack.

The new amendment does not give retroactive effect to the law.

However, Attorney General Eric Holder directed prosecutors on July 15 to ask courts to apply the law's lower penalties to people whose crimes were committed before Aug. 3 but who have not yet been sentenced.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen estimated that 20 crack offenders sentenced here could be affected by Holder's memo.

About 12,000 crack offenders could be eligible for reduced sentences nationwide - 85 percent of whom are black. The average reduction under amendment would be 37 months and will occur over a 30-year period.

Even after reduction, the average sentence will be at least 10 years. A sentencing judge will determine if an offender is eligible for a lower sentence.

If experience is a guide, the amendment won't result in an unusual spike of repeat offenders.

A March 3, 2008, crack amendment modified drug-quantity thresholds used by judges to calculate sentencing guidelines.

As a result, 268 crack offenders sentenced in federal court here applied for reduced sentences and 219 were granted, with the average sentence reduced by 26 months, the commission found.

The commission studied the nationwide recidivism rate of crack offenders who received a reduced sentence compared to a similarly situated group of crack offenders who served a normal prison term. It found that rates for those released early were "a little lower," said Judge Patti B. Saris, who chairs the commission.

Federal prosecutors here say they support retroactivity but are concerned with the potential for recidivism among serious drug offenders whenever they are released.

"When a drug offender is released from prison, he has opportunities to engage in illegal activity that don't exist in the prison setting," Lappen said.

Not all crack offenders will be eligible for reduced sentences. For example, crack offenders whose sentences include mandatory five- or 10-year minimum prison terms would be required to serve such terms.

Top congressional Republicans wrote to the commission June 10 urging a vote against retroactivity. "It merely gets criminals back into action faster," the letter said, but offered no evidence.

Julie Stewart, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a sentencing-reform group, applauded the commission after its vote for "responding to facts, not fear."