[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 191 (Thursday, December 13, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H15446-H15448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DRUG SENTENCING REFORM AND COCAINE KINGPIN TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2007; AND 
                             YOUTH VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening for two 
important matters. And I believe that when we listen to our colleagues 
speak about fairness, as my good friend from Texas, Congressman Poe, 
just did, I happen to agree with him that there are instances where we 
must respond to the unfairness of the justice system in the instance of 
these two Border Patrol agents who are incarcerated while the drug 
dealer goes free. But there are also commonsense approaches that we 
must make to address the question of the overall unfairness in the 
system.
  Today, I introduce H.R. 4545, which is the Drug Sentencing Reform and 
Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2007, and it responds to the cry of 
the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the U.S. Supreme Court, by no means 
liberal bastions, that have argued and have been convinced that the 
disparities in sentencing between crack cocaine and cocaine is patently 
unconstitutional and unfair. And it was the Supreme Court on December 
10 that restored the broad authority of Federal District judges to 
sentence outside the sentencing guidelines and impose shorter and more 
reasonable prison sentences for persons convicted of offenses involving 
crack cocaine.
  Right now, we know it takes $20,000 to incarcerate someone in the 
prison. But these justices and the U.S. Sentencing Commission said that 
it is important to end the disparity and not to give more for crack 
used, unfortunately, by the poorest of Americans, and allow those who 
use the high-priced cocaine, not really that different, to get off 
almost scot-free.
  This bill tracks the Supreme Court decision, but, more importantly, 
it includes an offender drug treatment incentive grant program, and it 
places and increases an emphasis on certain abrogating factors such as 
selling drugs to children. And it has penalties for the real bad guys, 
and those are the major drug traffickers.
  We must get a grip on the inequity of the justice system that allows 
some who can sit in their living room and smoke cocaine to get off 
easier than those who are on the streets with crack. We want to get rid 
of all uses of drugs, but we have to be fair in the justice system.
  I also rise, Mr. Speaker, and I hope my colleagues will join me in 
cosponsoring H.R. 4545. We introduced it today with 20 sponsors, 
including a member of the leadership, and we are grateful and hopeful 
that we will get a hearing on this legislation. But I also join my good 
friend, Congressman John Larson, to be able to step on the line, to 
stomp out the violence that our children are participating in.
  Some few years ago, I was on the select committee against violence 
headed by my former colleague Martin Frost. Let me just say to you that 
homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-
olds. Twenty-seven thousand young African Americans were murdered in 
this country over the last 5 years of the Iraq war; there have been 
fewer than 1,500 killed in Iraq. The murder of a teenager costs about 
$1 million in loss and accrued costs. A teenager disabled by gunshot 
costs about $2 million. Seventy-one percent of police chiefs and 
sheriffs and prosecutors nationwide agree that there must be programs 
for preschool children and after-school programs. But, more 
importantly, parents and teachers and the faith community and Members 
of Congress must stand against this violence.
  The killing of Sean Taylor by those under 20 years old. The killing 
of Deputy Constable in my district, Odom, whose funeral I went to, 
killed by those who were 11th and 12th graders in one of Houston's high 
schools.
  We have to stand and denounce violence, but we must intervene with

[[Page H15447]]

proactive preventative programs. And I would call upon this leadership 
to establish a select committee against youth violence. It is that much 
of a crisis. The question of the proliferation of guns in the hands of 
youth, the kind of youth that would go in and commit suicide but kill 
eight individuals or more in a Nation's shopping mall, or the kind of 
youth that would leave his Christian home of homeschooling and shoot 
those innocent persons at a missionary training school in one of the 
Nation's churches.
  What is going on in America? What is going on is silence. And, 
therefore, we are here today joining with Congressman Larson and my 
colleagues to stand against silence. Let us establish a youth 
commission, a youth select committee against youth violence in the 
United States Congress, and let our voices ring out so that we can save 
our children.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Drug 
Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act of 2007. I am 
introducing this important legislation today so that we may finally 
eliminate the unjust and unequal Federal crack/cocaine sentencing 
disparity in America. The time has come to finally right the wrongs 
created with the original drug sentencing legislation in 1986.
  As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, I have always been an 
outspoken advocate for justice and equality in our criminal justice 
system. For the last 21 years, we have allowed people who have 
committed similar crimes to serve drastically different sentences for 
what we now know are discredited and unsubstantiated differences. For 
the last 21 years, the way we have punished low-level crimes for crack 
cocaine and powder cocaine have been unjust and unequal.
  In 1986, Congress linked mandatory minimum penalties to different 
drug quantities, which were intended to serve as proxies for 
identifying offenders who were ``serious'' traffickers (managers of 
retail drug trafficking) and ``major'' traffickers (manufacturers or 
the kingpins who headed drug organizations).
  Since 1986, the severity of punishment between those sentenced for 
crack cocaine offenses and powder cocaine offenses has been extremely 
disproportionate, a 100 to 1 ratio to be exact. This has resulted in 
not only an unequal and unjust criminal justice system, but also a 
prison system which is overflowing and overburdened with individuals 
who were not in actuality major drug traffickers.
  The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently issued a report that 
unanimously and strongly urged Congress to: (1) act swiftly to increase 
the threshold quantities of crack necessary to trigger the five- and 
ten-year mandatory minimum sentences so that federal resources are 
focused on major drug traffickers as intended in the original 1986 
legislation; and (2) repeal the mandatory minimum penalty sentence for 
simple possession of crack, the only controlled substance for which 
there is a mandatory minimum for a first time offense of simple 
possession. The Sentencing Commission also unanimously rejected any 
effort to increase penalties for powder since there is no evidence to 
justify any such upward adjustment.
  Moreover, numerous reputable studies comparing the usage of powder 
and crack cocaine have shown that there is little difference between 
the two forms of the drug, which fundamentally undermines the current 
quantity-based sentencing disparity.

  Accordingly, I am introducing this legislation based on these 
recommendations and after the U.S. Supreme Court released two opinions 
in 7-2 decisions this past Monday, December 10th, restoring the broad 
authority of federal district court judges to sentence outside the 
Sentencing Guidelines' range and impose shorter and more reasonable 
prison sentences for persons convicted of offenses involving crack 
cocaine. In the most high-profile of the cases, Kimbrough v. United 
States, the Court held that sentencing judges could sentence crack 
cocaine defendants below the Guidelines' range to reflect a view that 
crack sentences have been set disproportionately high in comparison to 
cocaine sentences.
  Additionally, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has been urging Congress 
to drop its 100-1 crack-to-cocaine ratio approach, and the Court held 
that judges may take into account the evolving view that both drugs 
merit equal treatment when calculating prison time.
  It is time for Congress to act. This bill will eliminate the 
disparities in cocaine sentencing and the current mandatory minimum for 
simple possession. In addition, this bill will increase emphasis on 
certain aggravating and mitigating factors, create an offender drug 
treatment incentive grant program and increase penalties for major drug 
traffickers. Most importantly, thjs resolution will enact the measures 
that the U.S. Sentencing Commission has requested from Congress.
  This legislation will also fundamentally change the way we punish 
drug traffickers. This legislation dramatically increases the monetary 
punishment for those convicted of trafficking drugs and at the same 
time creates grants for States to create incentive based treatment 
programs for low-level drug offenders.
  Blatant and unjust inequality under the law must end. This bill will 
ensure that those individuals who have violated the law will be 
punished fairly, relative to the punishment. We cannot allow this 
injustice to continue, and I urge you to support this timely 
resolution, which is supported by the Open Society Policy Center, the 
Sentencing Project, the ACLU, the American Bar Association, and the 
Drug Policy Alliance. I also want to thank Senator Biden for 
introducing the companion to this legislation in the Senate earlier 
this year.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to join Congressman Larson and a number 
of my other colleagues to discuss the very serious issue of youth 
violence. As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I have 
placed the protection and promotion of the rights of our nation's 
children at the forefront of my legislative agenda, and I am deeply 
troubled and concerned about the rising tide of violence among 
America's children.
  Madam Speaker, news stories in recent weeks and months have 
illustrated a painful fact: that violent crime is again on the rise in 
the United States, and that the specter of violence is increasingly 
affecting our nation's children. Earlier this year, we were all stunned 
by the shooting spree that transpired on the campus of Virginia Tech, 
and only last week we witnessed the tragic rampage by a 19-year old 
young man in a Nebraska shopping mall. Only yesterday, according to 
media reports, six students were injured, two critically so, when their 
school bus came under gunfire in Las Vegas, in an attack which 
investigators believe may have been linked to a school fight earlier in 
the day.
  These tragic anecdotes are emblematic of a larger problem: the rising 
prevalence of violent crime in our society. According to news reports, 
the past two years have seen a trend of increased violence; last year 
violent crime rose 2 percent in the United States. Children are not 
immune to this brutality. Homicide is now the 2nd leading cause of 
death among 15- to 24-year olds. Gang violence is certainly linked to 
many of these cases, and youth-gang related homicides have risen by 
more than 50 percent since 1999.
  Madam Speaker, according to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2003, 
5,570 people between the ages of 10 and 24 were murdered. This works 
out to a shocking average of 15 young people killed every single day. 
Of these victims, 86 percent were male, and 82 percent, a clear 
majority, were killed with firearms.
  Some sectors of our society are more vulnerable to this rising tide 
of violence. Homicide is now the leading cause of death for African 
Americans between the ages of 10 and 24, and the 2nd leading cause of 
death for Hispanics in that age range. For American Indians, Alaska 
Natives, and Asian/Pacific Islanders, it is the 3rd leading cause of 
death. Over the past five years, there have been 27,000 young African 
Americans murdered in our nation, as compared to less than 1,500 
African Americans killed, in the same period of time, in the Iraq war.
  These disparities are evident in my home state of Texas. In 2003, the 
child death rate in Texas was 24.4 deaths per 100,000, a slight 
increase over the previous year. The rate of death for African American 
children in Texas was significantly higher than the rate for their 
White or Hispanic peers. In addition, in 2003, all Texas children were 
most likely to die from accidents, but while the second most prevalent 
cause of death for White and Hispanic children was disease, the second 
most common cause of death for African American children was homicide. 
For teenagers, deaths by accident, homicide, and suicide accounted for 
the majority of deaths among 15-19 year olds. While White teens were 50 
percent more likely to commit suicide than their Hispanic peers, and 
almost 2.5 times as likely as their African American peers, African 
American teens were over twice as likely to die of homicide as Hispanic 
teens, and seven times more likely than White teens.
  Our children should not have to grow up under a shadow of fear. In a 
nationwide survey of high school students published by the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, about 6 percent of respondents reported 
not going to school on one or more days in the 30 days preceding the 
survey because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from 
school. Madam Speaker, this is absolutely unacceptable. We cannot 
tolerate our children being scared away from the classroom by the 
threat of violent crime. We cannot allow violence to keep the young 
people of our Nation from receiving the education they need to fulfill 
their goals and dreams.
  Our Nations' cities are paying a high cost for their violent crime. 
While I am extremely wary of attaching monetary value to the lives of 
our children, I believe it is worth noting

[[Page H15448]]

that every murder of a teenager, according to estimates, costs the city 
in which it is committed roughly one million dollars. I mention this 
statistic only to highlight the economic benefit of working to prevent 
youth violence, on top of the obvious social and humanitarian 
motivations. Analysis has shown that for every dollar spent on youth 
violence prevention, $14 is saved that would be spent in the justice 
system. If prevention is made a priority, studies show, preemptive 
programs will reap dividends in the future.
  The rising rate of incarceration is of great concern to me, 
particularly as it harshly affects communities of color. According the 
Justice Department, if the 2001 rates of incarceration were to continue 
indefinitely, a white male born in the U.S. would have a 1 in 17 chance 
of going to state or federal prison during his lifetime, a Latino male 
would have a 1 in 6 chance, and a Black male would have a 1 in 3 chance 
of going to prison. These disturbing statistics speak to the ongoing 
racial divides in our society, as well as to the lack of opportunities 
for young men in many of these communities. I believe that, in this 
Congress, we have made some progress toward creating and proliferating 
opportunities for all the young people of our nation to improve their 
potential; I also believe we have a great deal of work left to do in 
this regard.
  Madam Speaker, despite a spate of recent shootings that have 
demonstrated the prevalence of school violence, the news is not all 
bad. Studies have shown that school-associated violent deaths account 
for less than 1 percent of homicides among school-aged children and 
youth.
  However, even if schools are the safest place for our children, it 
remains indisputable that young people are increasingly the victims of 
violent crime, and that crime and violence in schools remains far too 
prevalent. In 2004, over 750,000 young people, ages 10-24, were treated 
in emergency departments for injuries sustained due to violence, 
according to the Centers for Disease Control. In a CDC survey conducted 
in 2004 of high school students across the nation, 33 percent reported 
being in a physical fight at least once in the year preceding the 
survey. Seventeen percent reported carrying a weapon on one or more of 
the 30 days preceding questioning. Another survey estimated that 30 
percent of 6th to 10th graders were involved in bullying, either as a 
bully, a target, or both.
  Madam Speaker, Americans pay $90 billion in taxes every year for the 
criminal justice system. They pay an additional $65 billion annually in 
total private security costs. This works out to approximately $535 a 
year for every man, woman, and child in America. I would suggest that 
addressing the causes of youth violence in our country, and working to 
prevent it in the future, would be a much better direction to 
concentrate our efforts. Doing so will save American taxpayer dollars, 
but, far more importantly, it will save the lives of our sons and 
daughters.
  Madam Speaker, youth violence has a profound affect on communities 
across our nation. In addition to tragic injury and death, youth 
violence escalates the cost of health care, reduces productivity, 
decreases property values, and disrupts social services.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to make a reduction in 
youth violence a reality. According to 71 percent of police chiefs, 
sheriffs, and prosecutors nationwide, providing more pre-kindergarten 
programs for pre-school age children, as well as after-school programs 
for school-age children, would be the most effective strategy for 
reducing youth violence. I believe we, as a Congress and as 
representatives of the American people, must ensure that the protection 
of our children is at the forefront of our legislative agenda.

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