WASHINGTON -- Federal drug convictions rose to record levels during the 1990s, but the average sentence for drug offenders declined, mostly for first-time criminals or those who cooperated with authorities, a private study says.
Congress, judges and prosecutors all took opportunities to soften tough sentences for those defendants, Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or Trac, said in reporting the somewhat surprising findings Sunday.The same decade saw tougher drug laws passed throughout the nation, federal drug-control spending rise by nearly two-thirds to $16 billion a year in 1998 and federal drug convictions climb to an annual record of 21,571 in 1998.
Low-level, rookie criminals who caused no injuries and offenders who saved the government the cost of a trial and helped agents catch fellow criminals in return for guilty pleas to lesser charges captured the lion's share of leniency from tough sentencing laws.
"There are a number of reasons for the decline," said Justice Department spokesman John Russell. "Enactment of the 'safety valve' provision for first-time, non-violent drug offenders; the trend among drug defendants towards more guilty pleas and fewer trials, and the increase in the number of drug defendants providing substantial assistance."
"We were getting complaints that too many first-time, non-violent offenders were getting long sentences, so Congress gave judges discretion to go below the mandatory minimums," Russell added.
The declines showed up in data collected by the federal court system, the Justice Department and the U.S. Sentencing Commission, each of which uses a slightly different definition for drug crimes.
The most extensive set of figures, from the court system, show the decline began in 1992, the final year of the Bush administration. A peak of 95.7 months occurred in 1991; from there, the average sentence dropped to 74.6 months in 1999, the Trac study found.
Justice Department data showed that the average sentence declined from 86 months in 1992 to 67 months in 1998, and the median slipped from 48 months in 1992 to 46 in 1998. Half of all sentences are longer and half are shorter than the median.
Sentencing Commission data showed the average dropped from 88.2 months in 1992 to 78 months in 1998, and the median from 60 months in 1991 to 56 in 1998.
Trac and federal officials cited a variety of reasons for the shortening of sentences: a decline in serious drug use, more effective police work that produced more guilty pleas and fewer trials, and a feeling that tough mandatory minimum sentences had not left enough flexibility for all defendants.
"Congress' changes in the law, combined with the key roles of federal prosecutors and federal judges, suggest a pretty wide consensus that previous sentences were too high for some defendants," said Trac co-director David Burnham.
The percentage of federal drug offenders sentenced to less prison time than called for by sentencing guidelines rose from 33.7 percent in 1993 to 42.9 percent in 1998, Sentencing Commission figures showed.
Judges and prosecutors both had a hand in this trend.
The percentage of all federal drug convicts given lesser sentences rose from 6.2 percent in 1993 to 12.8 percent in 1998. The judges were required to explain their belief that the sentencing guidelines did not adequately cover the case.
Prosecutors can seek reduced sentences for criminals who substantially help investigators. They sought this leniency for 27.5 percent of the defendants in 1993 and 30.1 percent in 1998.
On the Net: Study text at: www.trac.syr.edu