Federal Drug Sentences Keep Getting Longer

[undeterred]

Feature: Despite Supreme Court Ruling Throwing Out Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Federal Drug Sentences Keep Getting Longer 3/24/06

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/428/andlonger.shtml

Fourteen months ago, the US Supreme Court upset the federal sentencing apple cart when it ruled in US v. Booker that the sentencing guideline scheme in place for nearly two decades unconstitutionally allowed judges to sentence defendants based on facts not heard by a jury. As a remedy, the Supreme Court held the guidelines could no longer be mandatory, but only advisory. While some sentencing reform advocates hoped that more humane drug sentences would result, and conservative congressmen and the Justice Department worried that somebody somewhere would not do enough prison time, after a year of post-Booker sentencing, little has changed.

Southern Correctional Institution, Troy, NC
In a report on post-Booker sentences issued last week, the US Sentencing Commission found that most judges in most cases continued to sentence in accord with the now "advisory" guidelines. According to the report, about 67,000 people were sentenced in the federal courts in the past year, and their average sentence of 58 months was actually higher than the 57-month average of the previous year. Sentences below the guidelines have increased, but only minimally, from a little over 9% to just over 15%.

Prosecutors can and occasionally do appeal sentences below the guidelines. In the 21 appeals of lenient sentences filed by prosecutors in the past year, courts have reversed 15, the Sentencing Commission reported.

The main subjects of federal criminal sentencing procedures are convicted drug offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at the end of 2003, drug offenders made up 55% of all federal prisoners. By now, with the federal Bureau of Prisons reporting 180,000 federal prisoners as of last week, about 100,000 people are serving federal time for drug crimes. And they are serving longer sentences after Booker than before; the Sentencing Commission found the average sentence for a drug trafficking offense had increased from 83 months to 85 months.

[Taxloss]

1. Here's a long drugs sentence:

"Anyone who thinks that America's drugs problem can be addressed solely through the use of federal prisons, which are typically more drug-saturated than the average pharmacist's store, is either unwilling to or incapable of finding a long term, responsible approach, and will do nothing to abate the problem."

Short sentence:

"Market forces, innit."

[undeterred]

2. ...

:)

[rodeodance]

4. "Lock 'em up" is a part of US mentality!!

[Minnesota Libra]

3. Adults can can yes or no but KIDS............

.....do and sell drugs to be part of the "in group" and those are the ones who deserve the worst sentences. IMHO, life a hard labor would be too easy for someone selling/providing drugs to a kid of any age.

If that doesn't work and there is a second offense of selling to kids then we should use slightly more permanent means of stopping these sellers. It's our kids and protecting our kids should have no limits.