original article
Is drug law too harsh?
By Devona Walker
Staff Writer
Critical racial disparities in drug sentencing were recently reported in 97 percent of the nation's largest counties, including Tulsa and Oklahoma.
A report released by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute found that black people are far more likely to be imprisoned for drug crimes than white people, despite comparable drug usage rates.
In Tulsa County, black people are five times more likely to be sentenced to prison than white people.
Out of 198 counties, where the most striking disparities were found, Tulsa ranked 20th.
In Oklahoma County, black people are four times more likely to be imprisoned for drug crimes, making it 27th in the nation.
"It has nothing to do with who is using drugs. If you look at who is doing drugs, white Americans are at the top of the lists, and lots of them,” said LaWanda Johnson, spokeswoman for the Justice Policy Institute. "But if you look at who is going to prison for drugs, it is black Americans.”
Disparity is complicated
The disparity is more complicated than politics.
For example, in San Francisco, widely considered the most liberal county in the nation, black people are 28 times more likely to be imprisoned than white people. More critical are poverty and unemployment rates, availability of drug treatment and the size of the police department as well as policing strategies, according to the Justice Policy report.
In 2002, 19.5 million Americans admitted to using drugs. During the same year about 1.5 million were arrested on drug charges.
Of those arrested, only 175,000 were sentenced to prison. More than half those sentenced were black, according to the report.
"It's the way the drug laws are set up and how they are enforced,” Johnson said. "I understand you follow the gunshots when you are looking for crime. But address all the issues like drug treatment and the availability of services in those neighborhoods.”
State law is tough
In Oklahoma, a first-time possession charge could carry a 10-year prison sentence.
Oklahoma is also one of a handful of states with jury sentences, where jurors rather than judges determine sentences. These juries, Oklahoma public defender Bob Ravitz said, are often inadequately informed about how much real time an offender is going to get.
"Part of the problem that no one really wants to talk about in Oklahoma are the ridiculous sentence ranges we have,” Ravitz said. "When you have those wide ranges, you are going to have disparity in sentencing.”
A recent case involved a 25-year-old defendant named Franklin Thompson. He was driving on the east side of the city with some friends when he committed a traffic violation. Officers ordered him to pull over. Instead, he attempted to elude. His lawyers say he was afraid because he already had a bench warrant for a traffic violation, and he was driving with an expired license.
Police found about 7 grams of crack cocaine, about $700 worth, in his car. There were multiple people in the car. He maintained throughout the trial that the drugs did not belong to him.
In most states, the weight Thompson possessed would have carried a five-year sentence. In Oklahoma, he was sentenced to 60 years. He cannot be considered for parole until he serves at least 30 years.
His girlfriend is about eight months pregnant. He will never be able to support that child. Instead, Oklahoma will spend $20,000 per year to house him. He will cost the state at least $600,000 before it considers releasing him.
"Here, we take somebody who is a criminal, don't get me wrong — but he's not a violent individual, he's not a member of a drug cartel — and we give him a sentence where we are basically throwing away the key. To sit there and take a prison bed for this guy for the next 30 years is crazy,” Ravitz said.
Oftentimes substance abusers, especially ones that are either poor or black, get caught up in the cross fire of America's war on drugs, he said.
Jim Hughes, the lead attorney in the Thompson case, says in criminal justice politics are often confused with policy.
"It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction. We, the public, don't want illegal drugs in our state. But we don't think it all the way through,” Hughes said. "The legislators all want to appear tough on crime. But they don't think of all the ramifications.
"But in the end, all you've done is made better criminals out of amateur criminals,” he added.
Is crime deterred?
Tough sentences, however, have also been effective deterrents in stamping out the supply of dangerous drugs, said Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs spokesman Mark Woodward.
"With some of these tougher laws, we've seen tremendous strides,” he said.
The street value of methamphetamines, subsequent to increased enforcement and sentence amplifications nationwide, has skyrocketed, Woodward said. Those price increases are directly related to the fact that law enforcement has been cutting into supply.
"You can't tell me it's not making a difference,” he said. "People don't feel as if they have to be afraid anymore.”
The sentence disparity between crack and other drugs, and the fact that it has contributed to huge disparities within the criminal justice system, has been an issue of timing as opposed to race, Woodward said.
"Those tougher sentences came during the height of the war on drugs and were meant to address drugs but also dangerous Los Angeles street gangs,” Woodward said.
But he also conceded his bureau has been looking seriously into those sentences and their impacts.
"It's an area that we have looked at. We have considered taking something to the state legislature that would address it,” Woodward said. "But to be honest, this meth epidemic has taken center stage. It's still something we want to look at. It's been on the back burner, but it is an issue.”
What does the law say?
Currently, the Oklahoma drug trafficking guidelines are as follows: Five grams of crack cocaine, about $500 worth, is considered trafficking. Ten grams of heroin, about $2,000, is considered trafficking. Twenty grams of methamphetamine, about $20,000, is considered trafficking. Twenty-seven grams of powder cocaine, between $2,500 and $3,000, is considered trafficking. Ten pounds of marijuana, between $10,000 and $15,000, is considered trafficking.
All trafficking charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
"Part of the problem that no one really wants to talk about in Oklahoma are the
ridiculous sentence ranges we have.”
Oklahoma public defender Bob Ravitz
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