Page 91 - Freedom in the world_Neat

As of 2002, the average sentence for a federal inmate convicted of a drug-related felony
(where the drug crime was the most serious offense for which the defendant was
convicted) was 76 months, while overall the average felony sentence was 58.4
months.15 More than 80 percent of the increase in the federal prison population between
1985 and 1995 was due to drug convictions.16 The number of prisoners incarcerated for
nonviolent crimes is now larger than the combined populations of Alaska and Wyoming.17
Most drug sentences under both federal and state law are based on legislatively
determined guidelines that recommend minimum sentences based on the type of drug in
question, the weight or amount of the drug entered into evidence, and the prosecutor’s
assessment of the defendant’s intent to distribute or traffic the drug.

Even the form of the drug a defendant is convicted of possessing can affect his or her
sentence. Notably, under current federal law, a person convicted of possessing five grams
of crack cocaine would be subject to a five-year minimum sentence, while a defendant
would have to be convicted of possessing at least 500 grams of powder cocaine in order
to trigger the same sentence. Harsh sentences for the possession of crack cocaine were
enacted during the 1980s in an effort to stem what the federal government and many
urban community leaders believed was an epidemic linked to violent crime and unrest.
However, the measures disproportionately affected poor and black defendants, since
wealthier white drug users tended to use powder cocaine, leading to charges of racial bias.
The Senate is currently considering a bipartisan bill that would bring the penalties for the
two forms of cocaine closer together, although a significant gap would remain.18 Black
Americans represent 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 37 percent of those
arrested on drug charges, 53 percent of those convicted of such charges, and 67 percent
of people imprisoned for drug crimes.19
More than 90 percent of prisoners are eventually released into society. However, the rate
of re-arrest for criminal offenders is 67.5 percent in the three years following
release.20 Frustrated by this recidivism, states in the 1990s began passing laws aimed at
habitual offenders, known colloquially as “three strikes and you’re out” laws. Washington
State passed the first such law by referendum in 1993. The measure mandated that any
criminal convicted of a “most serious offense” three times be sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility of parole. By 2004, the federal government and 26 states had
passed similar laws.
Some “three strikes” laws have had unforeseen results. California’s law, for instance,
applies to any third felony conviction, even if it is nonviolent. In 1995, California felon
Kevin Weber was sentenced to 26 years in prison for stealing four chocolate-chip
cookies.21 Defendants in the state may also be convicted of two “third strikes” in a single
case, resulting in two consecutive life sentences.
Police Methods. According to federal statistics, the racial breakdown of those arrested
nationwide does not correspond to the racial breakdown of the general population. Black
Americans in particular are arrested in disproportionate numbers. In 2005, blacks made up
12.8 percent of the U.S. population, but 27.8 percent of those arrested.22
With this disparity in mind, some police departments informally include race in the set of
characteristics, or profile, that officers use to help distinguish likely law-breakers from the
general population. Opponents of racial profiling argue that it creates a vicious circle, with
heightened police scrutiny of certain groups reinforcing the racial disparity in arrest and
conviction figures. Critics have also refuted the notion that racial profiling always targets

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