Mukasey on Crack: Backtracking on Sentencing

A nice piece with some interesting links showcasing the new sentencing guidelines established for crack and some of the politicians balking at it being retroactive. The statistics are scary and border on racism.

By Molly Kenney of iVoryTowerz

Tragedy will ensue if new sentencing guidelines for crack offenses are made retroactive, Attorney General Michael Mukasey told the House Judiciary Committee this week. Did someone just tell him about the sentencing shift now?

Last year, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to reduce the sentences for crack cocaine offenses in an attempt to address the startling inequalities between crack and powder cocaine penalties. Prior to that ruling, 5 grams of crack cocaine carried the same penalty as 500 grams of powder; more than 85 percent of incarcerated crack offenders are black. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kimbrough v. U.S. that judges were no longer bound by the sentencing guidelines. Within a day, the Sentencing Commission announced retroactive sentencing changes, making almost 20,000 inmates eligible for consideration for early release in the next decade.

On behalf of the brilliant Bush administration, Mukasey asked Congress to block the retroactive sentencing changes. According to The Washington Post, he warned that “tragic, but predictable results” would come from releasing crack offenders who were sentenced under the former guidelines. Mukasey is terrified for communities which will receive these criminals, “among the most serious and violent offenders in the federal system.” I guess that means communities shouldn’t be worried about the silly little (read: white suburbanite) powder cocaine offenders, or the average of 1,600 U.S. offenders of all stripes released daily.* The so-called “War on Drugs” isn’t that different from other wars this administration is waging — same scare tactics, same illogical reasoning.

So what is Mukasey doing raising this issue in February? Perhaps water sports or a short attention span kept him from addressing this last year, but his statement to the House will now likely fall on deaf ears. Congress made no move to block the guidelines last year, although it could have done so any time between May and November. Congress certainly is not going to act in the next three weeks before releases begin, just because Mukasey’s asking now. The federal judiciary, defense attorneys, and several probation and prison reform groups have all lauded the Sentencing Commission’s decision. Retroactive changes for unfair sentences are strongly backed, and this preoccupied Congress (one that is getting ready to pass a widely-supported, bipartisan offender reentry bill, the Second Chance Act) won’t care about Mukasey’s last inning rumblings.

Even the stances of Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the retroactive sentencing guidelines went almost unnoticed. Predictably, Sen. Clinton (D-NY) opposes the retroactive changes, continuing her habit of playing the Republican in Democratic clothing. Also expectedly, Obama wants change but undefined change. When asked in a December debate about this issue, he talked instead about the larger issue of young male involvement in drugs. With only vague hints from Obama, I’m going to have to assume that this means he is in favor of the retroactive sentencing changes. Obama is sponsoring the Second Chance Act, and with former Senator John Edwards gone from the presidential sweepstakes, I’m not supporting Hillary.

By objecting to righting wrongs such as racist sentencing, the Bush administration may be playing the “tough on crime” card, usually a guaranteed political boost, at a time when a boost is sorely needed. But this is just another bad move by a bad administration. Thankfully, this time, no one is listening to them, and the end is only 11 months away. (Click here to subscribe to my feed!)

*This statistic from the Urban Institute circa 2001.

(For more background on this issue, please see: "Crack Sentencing Guidelines Revisited;" and "The Court on Crack.")

History Channel Special on Drug War Hits Home. A Must See for Squares!

In America, more than half a million people a year are arrested for some form of marijuana possession. Half of the people currently in the federal prison system are there for some form of drug possession. This striking trend, a trend whose origins we can attribute to President Nixon's overzealous war on drugs campaign, has slowly began to gain recognition as an economically draining and futile effort.

With eleven states having passed some form of legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, it is now up to the federal government to recognize this plentiful natural resource's multitude of societal applications. The idea of marijuana being more dangerous than alcohol is a complete farce. Alcohol being legal while marijuana is illegal is pure hypocrisy. Much of marijuana's mystique can be attributed to the movie Reefer Madness and a murderer named Victor Licata. Victor, while supposedly stoned, dismembered his entire family with an ax as they slept. Exactly the first activity that comes to mind when I have my morning bake.

This event occurred in 1933 and the first Commissioner of the Narcotics Bureau, Harry Jacob Anslinger, used the story as a springboard for his personal assault on recreational drugs. Victor Licata had reported having a terrible dream in which people were trying to "hack off" his arms. It would later be discovered that Victor was schizophrenic and that marijuana had no contribution to his acts. Anslinger failed to report this to Congress however. Imagine that.

This information is available all over the internet and more people, non-smokers especially, need to be informed. Our tax-dollars are being wasted against more than one fictitious threat. Billions of dollars a year could be saved simply by decriminalizing marijuana. Legalize it, tax it if you have to, but just quit demonizing its use. Fundamental America is drowning in its own ignorance and it wont be long before they too can make this realization: Pot-heads don't belong in prison while child-molesters and rapists run rampant. The fact that people who commit sex-crimes are required by law to register is a testament to their inhumanity, yet we turn them away from prisons due to overcrowding, sentencing them to probation instead.

By exonerating stoners and decriminalizing marijuana, America would be simultaneously opening the possibility to make money off of an already well established consumer base, while removing a huge tax burden from both federal and state governments, and freeing space our prison system desperately needs to lock away those who truly are a threat to society's innocents. I don't know about you, but I'm more worried about my son being snatched from his bus stop than being offered a joint. (Click here to subscribe to my feed!)