Were he arrested and convicted today, he would still be sentenced under that precise provision. In what read as a simple, almost dry, unanimous decision, it was left to Sotomayor to bring the human cost of the ruling to life. Rather than burying the legal contradiction, Sotomayor began her concurrence by pointing out the obvious: Had Terry been convicted of distributing a much larger amount of crack cocaine, he would currently be eligible for a sentence reduction.
Her concurrence emphasized the scientific arbitrariness in treating these drugs differently and the decades-long urging of the Sentencing Commission to reform this disparity. Terry was sentenced as a career criminal because of two prior teenage drug offenses that netted him a total of four months in prison.
It was these offenses that skyrocketed his next offense from what would have been 3 to 4 years in prison to between 15 and 20 years in prison, throwing away the life of another young, Black man. The interaction between the baseline disparities for crack-cocaine offenders and the career-criminal guidelines provide policy reasons to apply the reforms broadly — not to render ineligible those who have been so harshly sentenced.
As Sotomayor noted, over half of those who received sentencing reductions in the first year of The First Step program were sentenced under the career-criminal statutes. The hope, Sotomayor concludes, is that Congress now takes up its pen to complete its work. Posted in Merits Cases. Cases: Terry v. United States. A workplace vaccine-or-test requirement that would have covered 84 million workers -- blocked.
A vaccine mandate for over 10 million health care workers -- allowed to take effect. Full analysis from AHoweBlogger on this afternoon's rulings:. Fractured court blocks vaccine-or-test requirement for large workplaces but green-lights vaccine mandate for health care workers - SCOTUSblog. SCOTUS releases just one opinion today: an decision on an arcane question of pension payments for "dual-status military technicians.
Barrett has the opinion; Gorsuch dissents. The vaccine-policy cases are possible, but we don't know in advance which cases we'll get. We'll be live-blogging starting at On Thursday, Jan. Opinion analysis Unanimous ruling on crack-cocaine disparity is heavy on text, light on history By Ekow Yankah on Jun 16, at am. Fractured court blocks vaccine-or-test requirement for large workplaces but green-lights vaccine mandate for health care workers - SCOTUSblog With COVID cases and hospitalizations reaching a new record high as a result of the Omicron variant, the Suprem Reply on Twitter Retweet on Twitter 73 Like on Twitter View on Twitter Reply on Twitter Retweet on Twitter Like on Twitter View on Twitter The Commission noted that its earlier assignment set the bottom of the two ranges higher than necessary to satisfy minimum sentencing requirements 5 years and 3 months in the case of 5 grams; 10 years and 1 month in the case of 50 grams.
As a consequence, the ratio has disappeared from the Guidelines although the statutory ratio in the quantities of powder cocaine and crack cocaine that trigger the mandatory minimum penalties still remains. In July , the Commission proposed that the amendment be made retroactively applicable to previously sentenced crack cocaine offenders. While the Commission found "that the statutory purposes of sentencing are best served by retroactive application of the amendment," it emphasized that not all previously sentenced crack cocaine offenders will automatically receive a reduction in sentence—rather, federal sentencing judges will have the final authority to make that determination based on the merits of each case, after considering a variety of factors, including whether public safety would be endangered by early release of the prisoner.
In general, a federal court "may not modify a term of imprisonment once it has been imposed. However, a court may not reduce a sentence below a statutory mandatory minimum. Another question facing the courts was whether defendants who were convicted of crack cocaine offenses but sentenced as career offenders could benefit from the amended crack cocaine sentencing guidelines. Courts of appeals that have considered the issue have ruled that they cannot.
Here, although Amendment [the crack cocaine amendment] would reduce the base offense levels applicable to the defendants, it would not affect their guideline ranges because they were sentenced as career offenders under [U. Additionally, the remedial holding in Booker invalidated only 18 U. To resolve this circuit split and offer a definitive answer to this question, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Dillon v. At his sentencing, the district court judge commented that "I personally don't believe that you should be serving months[, b]ut I feel I am bound by those Guidelines I don't say to you that these penalties are fair.
I don't think they are fair. I think they are entirely too high for the crime you have committed. The district court reduced Dillon's sentence to months the term at the bottom of the revised Guidelines range , although Dillon desired an even greater reduction, below the bottom of the amended Guidelines range, in light of Booker and the institutional rehabilitation and educational and community-outreach achievements that he has accomplished while incarcerated.
The policy statement, he asserted, "attempts to resurrect the mandatory Guidelines system Booker invalidated. Petitioner's proposed rule not only would undermine principles of finality that are essential to the operation of the criminal justice system, but also would inevitably affect the Sentencing Commission's calculus in deciding whether to make its Guidelines amendments retroactive in the first place. That result would diminish Section c 2 's value as a mechanism for the exercise of leniency.
On June 17, , the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dillon , in which it sided with the position of the United States.
He accused the Court of being "unfaithful" to Booker in treating the Commission's policy statements "as a mandatory command rather than an advisory recommendation. Several bills have been introduced concerning cocaine sentencing; to date, the Congress has passed one into law: S.
Introduced by Senator Richard Durbin, S. The bill also eliminates the 5-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. Sentencing Commission to amend the Sentencing Guidelines to ensure that the Guidelines provide an additional penalty increase of at least two offense levels if the defendant used violence, made a credible threat to use violence, or directed the use of violence during a drug trafficking offense.
On July 28, , the House considered S. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that implementation of S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett introduced H. Currently, it takes times those quantities to trigger the 5- and year mandatory minimum sentences for powder cocaine. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee introduced H. It would call upon the Sentencing Commission to reexamine the weight given aggravating and mitigating factors in drug trafficking cases.
It also would eliminate the 5-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack cocaine. In addition, the bill would increase fines for significant drug trafficking offenses, authorize funding for prison- and jail-based drug treatment programs, and authorize increased resources for the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Homeland Security. Representative Bobby Scott introduced H. The bill would treat 50 grams of crack the same as 50 grams of other forms of cocaine, 5 grams of crack the same as 5 grams of other forms of cocaine, and would eliminate all mandatory minimum penalties relating to cocaine offenses.
The bill also would reestablish the possibility of probation, suspended sentence, or parole for cocaine offenders. Representative Scott also has introduced H.
Representative Maxine Waters introduced H. The bill also would require the Attorney General to provide written approval before the commencement of a federal prosecution for an offense involving less than grams of powder or crack cocaine. Representative Charles Rangel introduced H.
Past Congresses have considered legislation relating to cocaine sentencing; some of these bills had called for a drug quantity ratio between crack and powder cocaine, while other bills would have changed the statutory ratio to At least 3. At least 2 KG but not less than 3. Amendments that became effective on November 1, , adjusted the ratios, U. See 18 U.
Post, June 20, , at A The sentencing differential for crack and powder cocaine offenses had its origin in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of , P. The act speaks of "cocaine base," not crack. See 21 U. The guidelines, however, define cocaine base to mean crack cocaine. D November 1, See Id.
Congress set the threshold quantities for the lower range at grams of powder cocaine and 5 grams of cocaine base and the threshold quantities for the higher range at 5 kilograms and 50 grams, respectively.
Thus, for sentencing purposes, Congress treated 1 unit of crack cocaine on the same level as units of powder cocaine.
Relative to the difference between crack and powder cocaine—powder cocaine is derived from coca paste, which is in turn derived from the leaves of the coca plant—crack cocaine is made by taking cocaine powder and cooking it with baking soda and water until it forms a hard substance.
These "rocks" can then be broken into pieces and sold in small quantities. Each gram of powder cocaine produces approximately. Matos, F. See P. See U. Times, January 9, , at A See, e. Eirby, F. Singleterry, 29 F. Anderson, 82 F. Dumas, 64 F. Graciani, 61 F. Bingham, 81 F. Thomas, 86 F. Manzueta, F. Herron, 97 F. Canales, 91 F. See United States v. Andrade, 94 F.
Sanchez, 81 F. Booker, 73 F. Alton, 60 F. Haynes, F. United States v. Booker, F. For example, the then-effective Guidelines required a defendant convicted by a jury of possession with intent to distribute five grams of crack cocaine to be sentenced within a guideline range of 63 to 78 months.
Prior to Booker , the Guidelines required a judge to increase the sentence beyond that prescribed range if the judge found additional facts e.
Each of these factual findings required a new higher sentencing range. The Court said a judge may not go over the sentence at the top of the Guideline range authorized by the jury—in this case 78 months—unless the jury finds the necessary facts for the higher range or the defendant admits to them.
Apprendi held that "[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The primary directive in Section a is for sentencing courts to "impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes set forth in paragraph 2.
Nellum, WL N. February 3, ; United States v. Clay, WL E. Williams, F. United States, F. Moreland, F. Smith, F. Leroy, F. Castillo, WL S. May 20, ratio ; United States v. With regard to socioeconomic correlates of lifetime cocaine use Table 4 , females, racial minorities, married subjects, and those with health insurance were consistently at lower odds for lifetime use of each form of the drug.
Subjects who were older, employed, resided in cities, or reported government assistance were at higher odds for use of each form of the drug.
Medium income was also a risk factor for powder cocaine use until controlling for all other factors. Having a high school diploma or some college were associated with increased odds for lifetime powder cocaine use, but high school and college graduates were at low odds for crack use.
The comparison group is lifetime non-users. Table 5 presents correlates of recent use. Since the outcomes e. Many results were similar to the models examining lifetime use, but key differences emerged.
Older subjects were less likely to use powder cocaine, but more likely to use crack. Blacks were at more than twice the odds for crack use before controlling for other sociodemographics. Full-time employment increased odds for powder cocaine use, but this decreased odds for crack use. Education was not related to powder cocaine use, but higher education particularly college education was robustly protective against crack use.
Similarly, higher income was inversely associated with crack use. Therefore, the reader should pay closest attention to direction and significance more so than actual ORs. The comparison group is month non-users. Finally, with regard to month frequency of use Table 6 , older subjects and blacks reported higher rates of use of each form of the drug, and college graduates reported lower rates of use of each.
Having some college or being a college graduate were associated with lower rates of powder cocaine use, but only college graduates reported lower rates of crack use. This finding is significant not only due to the possible untoward effects of use on the health and well-being, but also because there is federal legislation under review that could eliminate the differential sentencing between crack and powder cocaine users that has been in effect for almost three decades.
Enactment of the new legislation would substantially reduce sentencing disparities, and perhaps incarceration disparities. We found that crack use is more strongly associated with both lifetime arrest and multiple recent arrests than powder cocaine.
Although we could not deduce temporal associations, results do suggest that crack users have a relatively high likelihood of arrest, regardless of whether drug use is directly involved. If such individuals are already at high risk for multiple arrests, then such users may be at particularly high risk for drug possession charges.
We also found varying sociodemographic correlates of powder and crack cocaine use, some of which differ by lifetime versus recent use. Results suggest females are at lower risk of using either powder or crack cocaine compared to males, which is consistent with previous studies Pope et al.
However, females tended to report higher frequency of use of each form of the drug. This is consistent with previous studies among both national and substance-using samples which suggest that despite lower rates of use, female users tend to have higher rates of dependence and comorbid conditions, and also face significant barriers to treatment, especially in rural areas Compton et al.
Examining racial differences is of particular importance given that not only are blacks historically and commonly thought to be at higher risk for crack use, but federal statistics also show that blacks experience higher rates of drug-related arrest rates and may be particularly susceptible to crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparities Blumstein, Compared to whites, racial minorities were at low risk for powder cocaine use, and Hispanics were at low risk for crack use.
Blacks were at increased risk for lifetime and recent crack use in unconditional models, but this association was lost when controlling for all other socioeconomic variables. Therefore, it appears that blacks are in fact at higher risk for crack use and associated outcomes, but this may be driven by socioeconomic factors—suggesting that SES may be a fundamental cause of racial disparities in crack use.
In the conditional models for lifetime use, higher educational attainment was associated with increased likelihood of powdered cocaine use and decreased likelihood of crack use and higher income was associated with decreased likelihood of crack use.
Miech et al. Another key finding is that blacks who did use either powder cocaine or crack tended to use at higher rates. Therefore, even if blacks are less likely to ever use, those who do use may use at higher frequencies and may be more likely to be cocaine-dependent Chen and Kandel, ; Chen and Anthony, and are thus more susceptible to legal consequences.
Other national studies have also found that racial minority status is associated with lower odds for crack use Kasperski et al. However, one must keep in mind that associations may be different for teens as our previous MTF study found that Hispanic high school seniors were consistently at higher odds for crack use, but not powder cocaine use Palamar and Ompad, We also found that residing in an MSA was robustly associated with crack use, particularly recent use.
With respect to adolescent users, powder cocaine use appears to be more prevalent in MSAs than crack Johnston et al. Full-time employment was a risk factor for recent powder cocaine use, but this was a protective factor against crack use.
This adds to previous research suggesting frequent crack users tend to be more marginalized from employment, and are less likely to have jobs Cross et al. Higher income was also negatively associated with crack use. This differs from income findings from our MTF study in that higher student income increased the odds of use of each form of the drug Palamar and Ompad, Previous studies have found that access to disposable income is often associated with cigarette use and alcohol consumption Martin et al.
With respect to adults, it is fitting that those with higher incomes would be more financially equipped to purchase powder cocaine at higher market prices. But this study confirms that crack use is negatively associated with higher income and tends to be used by a more economically marginalized segment of society.
With respect to educational attainment, results varied for powder cocaine use, but higher education tended to be strongly protective against crack use. This adds to evidence from the MTF study, which found that higher parent education consistently decreased odds for use of both powder and crack cocaine Palamar and Ompad, It also adds to findings from another MTF study, which found that acquiring a college education decreased the risk of cocaine use at age 35 Merline et al.
However, the second MTF study did not differentiate between powder cocaine and crack. Studies have shown that there is an inverse association in the US between education and cocaine use since ; this is due in part to decreased cocaine use among those with higher levels of education Chatterji, ; Harder and Chilcoat, ; Miech et al. This is consistent with the belief that more educated adults tend to engage in fewer risk behaviors Harder and Chilcoat, ; Link and Phelan, Crack use among those of lower SES may reflect a misperception of risk or less of a desire to embrace behaviors that benefit health Harder and Chilcoat, We also found that college graduates who do use either form of the drug are more likely to use at lower rates.
This study was cross-sectional so temporality could not be inferred. Those who said they used cocaine, but did not use crack, were thus assumed to have used powder cocaine. NSDUH excludes homeless individuals not in shelters, active military personnel, and residents of institutional group quarters, including hospitals and jails. Since this is a national representative sample, we should keep in mind that rates of use may be different e. We could not include poverty index because it is based on income and including it in models led to multicollinearity.
Results were similar when we included poverty instead of income in models, but models including income had better fit. Finally, recent use was relatively rare so results should be viewed with some caution, but we were still able to model precise estimates.
In light of the current sentencing disparity, our results suggest adults of lower SES may be at a greater risk for being imprisoned compared to their more advantaged counterparts, as they are more likely to use crack rather than powder cocaine.
Our finding that racial minority adults are at low risk for crack use is somewhat inconsistent with the literature suggesting that young African American males are more likely to use crack Beaver, ; Smart, ; Sterk et al. However, the reader must keep in mind that while unadjusted rates tend to be presented in the policy literature, our multivariable models reduced confounding by SES variables such as income and educational attainment.
We did find that blacks were at higher risk for crack use until controlling for other socioeconomic factors and that blacks tend to use at higher frequencies. Almost a quarter of black adults live in poverty, nearly twice the national average SAMHSA, ; therefore, results suggest race may actually be a confounder for crack use among individuals of lower SES, and that crack use may be more prevalent in resource-poor neighborhoods, many of which are predominantly African American. The arguably harsh and extreme sentences for crack offenses add to concerns about overcrowding in the US system.
Overcrowding negatively affects prison employees as well as inmates and their families, with 14, children enrolled in foster care having at least one incarcerated parent US GAO, Since black individuals in the US are so much more likely to live in in poverty, disproportionate numbers have been incarcerated for crack offenses. This finding is deeply relevant now as the Smarter Sentencing Act is under review.
These findings could have profound implications for the incarceration of those already disadvantaged in society. This project was not funded. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.
As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form.
Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Drug Alcohol Depend. Author manuscript; available in PMC Apr 1. Joseph J. Palamar , 1, 2, 3 Shelby Davies , 4 Danielle C. Ompad , 2, 3, 5 Charles M. Cleland , 2, 6 and Michael Weitzman 4. Danielle C.
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