Chris Dodd today released the following statement in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which allows sentences for crack cocaine convictions to be reduced.
"I welcome the Supreme Court's decision allowing judges to reduce sentences involving crack cocaine convictions. But we need to fix the problem where it lies, in the guidelines themselves. As President, I will work with Congress to eliminate the discrepancy between crack and powder cocaine sentencing which disproportionately affects people by race, geography and economics."
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Comments
As someone involved on the law enforcement side of this issue I see this as an unfortunate occurrence. We have strived to use this tool as a means to target violent individuals who most often have multiple prior convictions for drug distribution as well as for firearms and other crimes of violence. While the proponents of this change would have you believe that there are many serving lengthy prison terms for simple possession of small amounts of crack - nothing could be further from the truth. It amazes me how a few anecdotal stories - truly aberrations from the norm - continue to make the rounds in the media and have apparently swayed otherwise intelligent people. The unfortunate truth is that many bleeding heart liberal judges will use this as an opportunity to release some extremely dangerous individuals back into our communities sooner rather than later. Thankfully, we have some judges who will not be quite so easily swayed. By the way, the minimum mandatory sentence for 5 grams of pure methamphtamine, a "white" drug, is also 5 years and for 50 grams of pure is also 10 years. Equivalent to the sentences for crack. That is conveniently never discussed by the media or anyone else who is a proponent of the reduction.