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COCAINE SENTENCING.   Term Paper ID:23524 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines cocaine industry, sentencing disparity for powder & crack cocaine offenders, & federal law biased against African-Amer.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines cocaine industry, sentencing disparity for powder & crack cocaine offenders, & federal law biased against African-Amer. Paper Introduction: The sentencing disparity between convictions for crack cocaine and powder cocaine is discriminatory toward African-Americans. Federal policy is responsible for this disparity, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and Public Law 104-38 (Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Amendment, Disapproval) being the most significant contributors. Differences in the consumption and marketing patterns of crack cocaine and powder cocaine do not justify stiffer penalties. Ironically, the inequitable sentencing of African-Americans has done little to remedy the problem of cocaine trafficking in the United States. Government officials justify the disparity in sentencing between powder cocaine and crack cocaine based on the devastating effect that the latter drug exerts at the community level. According to testimony at a recent Congressional hearing, "We Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The public's perceptions were that the federal government had beentoo soft on drugs and that swift action was warranted. Crack houses are established as basesof operation and to facilitate rapid manufacture of the drug. Crack and the Evolution of Anti-Drug Policy. Public Law 1 4-38. In New York City, the base form of cocainegained popularity by word-of-mouth: "Local lore, a mixture of fact andfantasy, touted base as being less harmful than the acid form. Single doses can be sold on the streets for as little as $5to $2 . For example, an ounce of powder cocainepurchased for $6 can be converted into crack cocaine and sold for $3, . Media attention to the drug had aroused the public'sfears. Ironically, the inequitable sentencing of African-Americans has done little to remedy the problem of cocaine trafficking inthe United States. Although it takes a greater quantity of powder to createthe same level of high as crack, both drugs induce a similar narcoticeffect in the addict. Works CitedBelenko, Steven. In the fifth stage, drug usage increases sharply. Approximately 8 percent ofthose convicted of possession of crack cocaine were black, fewer than 1 percent white, and fewer than 8 percent Hispanic. Cocaine and FederalSentencing Policy. In response to public protest regarding sentencing disparities,Congressional hearings were held to amend federal policy on sentencing forcrack cocaine. Crack, which is smokedrather than snorted, produces an intense, short-lived high. Besides, the use of powder cocaine is more prevalentin society than the use of crack cocaine. Congress 63). The affordability of crack cocaine has made it readily availableto low-income segments of society, whereas powder cocaine is used mostly bythose who are affluent. In enacting such strictlegislation, politicians pointed to the threat to America's existence posedby a perceived widespread epidemic of drugs. The public's concerns reached the ears of the politicians,particularly because 1986 was an election year. Committee on the Judiciary. have been the fastest growing--if not the only--equal opportunityemployers of men in Harlem. The Act emphasized punishment and social control:"Most of the Federal funding authorized under the 1986 act went to lawenforcement, prisons, interdiction, and other supply reduction efforts,rather than treatment or prevention" (Belenko 14). Congress 123-124). The defendant's sentence of a mandatory 13 years in prisonwas based almost entirely on the quantity of crack cocaine in hispossession, whereas, if only the powder drug had been found, he would havebeen sentenced to only five years. The Rise of Crack and Ice: Experiences in Three Locales. The U.S. 1995.Pope, Victoria. The result was the 1986Anti-Drug Abuse Act. The street-based marketing pattern of crack cocaine dealing marks themost important difference between crack and powder, and this aspect federalpolicy, though misguided, has sought to rectify. Powder cocaine can be easily converted to crack with the addition ofcommon baking soda, once taken through a heating and cooling process.Crack can be broken down and packaged into small quantities fordistribution. When crack dealinginvades a community, a cycle of lawlessness develops. Differences in the consumptionand marketing patterns of crack cocaine and powder cocaine do not justifystiffer penalties. Cong. In thefirst stage, use is confined to small, isolated communities or subcultures. Conversely, convictions forpossession of powder cocaine were almost evenly divided between blacks,whites, and Hispanics (U.S. In the case of crack cocaine trafficking, this is thestage where crack houses began to emerge: "Although it is unclear to whatextent the original creation of crack reflected a deliberate marketing ployby the traffickers to expand cocaine consumption, that was its effect"(Stares 33). Federal penalties were established for seriouscrack offenses. As one researcher in Harlem notes, "Cocaine and crack .. Theirfear was that the crack epidemic would spread to suburban locales:"Perhaps because it was initially confined to minority poor urban areas,tales of violent crackheads caused much more alarm among the middle class"(Belenko 1 ). Federal policyis responsible for this disparity, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 andPublic Law 1 4-38 (Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Amendment, Disapproval)being the most significant contributors. Congress 129). The middle classwas terrified by the highly addictive qualities attributed to crack. As one expert witness testified, "TheseAfrican-Americans are subject to serving long mandatory minimum sentencesfor simple possession of small amounts of crack cocaine, while thosetypically Caucasian first time offenders convicted of possession of a muchgreater quantity of cocaine powder are subject to minimal sentences (evenprobation)" (U.S. The sentencing disparity between convictions for crack cocaine andpowder cocaine is discriminatory toward African-Americans. An example in Congressional testimony is given of a black defendantwho submitted to a voluntary police search of his premises and was found inpossession of a minuscule amount of crack cocaine and a large amount ofpowder cocaine. . Thus, anelaborate underground economy can quickly flourish, bringing in millions ofdollars of profit. Second or third offenders could receive sentences justas heavy for possession of as little as three or even one gram of thesubstance. Government officials justify the disparity in sentencing betweenpowder cocaine and crack cocaine based on the devastating effect that thelatter drug exerts at the community level. Dealers can easily recruit "runners," young boys from the local communityto market the crack on the streets. In thesixth stage, drug usage becomes an epidemic, severely impacting theresources of public agencies and health systems. In the fourth stage, drug dealers capitalize on the opportunity toenhance profits. Department of Justice has identifiedseven distinct stages in the spread of a new drug or drug form. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio.New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.Chaiken, Marcia. Westport,CT: Greenwood, 1993.Bourgois, Philippe. Critics of the disparity in sentencing between powder cocaine andcrack cocaine contend that the substances are basically the same, only indifferent form. Crack cocaine is purportedto be 1 times stronger than powder cocaine. Granted, thestreet marketing of crack in low-income neighborhoods is associated withviolent activity, but sentence adjustments should then be based solely onthe use of weapons or violence, rather than determined by the type of drugbeing trafficking. During the early 199 s, the African-American community began to feelthe negative effects of federal sentencing policy for crack cocaine.Statistics on convictions in federal courts by race became publicknowledge, and the disparity was startling. In the seventh stage, themedia begins reporting on the drug, alerting the attention of the public.News reports about crack cocaine did not begin appearing with frequencyuntil late 1985. "Crack Invades a Small Town." U.S. Laws were also enacted for the federal death penalty for drug-related murders. The enormous profits from crack cocaine prove an irresistible lurefor some low-income communities, thus minimizing the effect of stiffpenalties for its possession. Some sources listed thepercentage of black defendants sentenced for crack cocaine offenses in thefederal system as high as 92 percent. Law enforcement officials often find themselves outgunned by thesuperior firepower of their youthful adversaries. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1996.U.S. Washington: GPO, 1993, March.Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Amendment, Disapproval. Progression to the second stage is characterized by a switch to varioustypes of drugs or preparations. 334). The passage of the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act called for even stifferpenalties for drug crimes. House. It was saidto induce euphoria without unpleasant side effects" (Chaiken 3). For instance, crack cocaine did not emergein New York City until the early 198 s, accompanied by the decline of suchpopular drugs as heroin and PCP. As Public Law 1 4-38reads, "The sentence imposed for trafficking in a quantity of crack cocaineshould generally exceed the sentence imposed for trafficking in a likequantity of powder cocaine" (Federal Sentencing Guidelines 1 9 STAT. A veritable "War on Drugs"was initiated. Retail drug sales easily outcompete otherincome-generating opportunities, whether legal or illegal" (Bourgois 3). Dealers who areapprehended and imprisoned are quickly replaced with eager young recruits.Neighborhood residents are terrorized by brazen drug trafficking on streetcorners. 1 4th Cong., 1st sess. Congress, however, chose not to reduce the sentencingdisparity, reaffirming its previous stance that differences between crackand powder cocaine justified stiffer penalties. In the third stage, local opinion favorsa particular drug preparation. Although the defendant in this case wasa known drug dealer, existing federal policy made no distinction betweentrafficking and possession. News & World Report 22 April 1996: 34-44.Stares, Paul. Once a strictly urbanphenomenon, crack has now developed into a dilemma for many small towns aswell: "A national survey of police chiefs by pollster Peter Hart foundthat 47 percent of small-town chiefs consider drugs an 'extremely serious'or 'quite serious' problem" (Pope 37). Global Habit. In low-income communities, crack cocaine use can quickly escalateinto epidemic proportions. Also, no evidence in thescientific literature supports the contention that crack cocaine usage islinked with more violence than the use of powder cocaine. Even first-time offenders convicted of possession of aslittle as five grams of crack base substance could be sentenced to five to2 years in prison. Washington: GPO, 1995, June29.----------------------- 6 The intensityof the high creates a greater psychological dependence on crack thanexperienced by users of powder cocaine. According to testimony at arecent Congressional hearing, "We believe that sound drug sentencing policyshould reflect a reasoned judgment as to the relative harms to our societyof each illicit substance" (U.S. By 1986, the stage had been set for current federal policy on crackcocaine sentencing. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.