[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 44 (Thursday, March 12, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E656-E657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE MAJOR DRUG TRAFFICKING PROSECUTION ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 12, 2009

  Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Major Drug 
Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009. This legislation will refocus 
federal prosecutorial resources on major drug traffickers and eliminate 
racial disparities created by the mandatory minimum sentences for 
powder and crack cocaine.
  In the 1980s, Congress passed two Anti-Drug Abuse Acts with the goal 
that federal prosecutors would go after major drug traffickers at the 
top of the food chain, instead of low-level drug offenders at the 
bottom. Lengthy mandatory minimum prison sentences were passed for most 
drug crimes. These mandatory terms are triggered based solely on the 
type and weight of the drug involved, and, with very few exceptions, 
the courts cannot sentence below them.
  Twenty years later, mandatory drug sentences have utterly failed to 
achieve Congress's goals.
  First, these sentences are not stopping major drug traffickers. Huge 
quantities of drugs enter our country each year, but in 2005 the 
majority of crack and powder cocaine offenses, for example, were 
street-level dealers, mules and lookouts and users, 61.5 percent and 
53.1 percent, respectively. Mandatory minimums lock up thousands of 
small-time sellers and addicts for decades.
  Second, mandatory minimums have lengthened drug sentences, creating 
the need for more prisons and more taxpayer money to pay for them. 
Before the advent of mandatory sentences, drug offenders served an 
average of 22 months in prison; by 2004, that average sentence had 
nearly tripled, to 62 months in prison. Because of mandatory minimums, 
the federal prison budget has ballooned from $220 million in 1986 to 
$5.4 billion in 2008.
  Longer sentences and more people in prison haven't translated into 
safer streets. At some point, the effectiveness per dollar in promoting 
increased public safety will decrease. For example, when crime dropped 
dramatically between 1992 and 1997, imprisonment was responsible for 
just 25 percent of that reduction. Seventy five percent was attributed 
to factors other than incarceration.
  Finally, mandatory minimums have a disproportionate impact on African 
Americans, who comprise 12 percent of the U.S. population and 14 
percent of drug users, but 30 percent of all federal drug convictions. 
African American drug defendants are 20 percent more likely to be 
sentenced to prison than

[[Page E657]]

white drug defendants. African Americans, on average, serve almost as 
much time in federal prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites 
do for a violent offense (61.7 months). Much of this disparity is due 
to the severe penalties for crack cocaine.
  The Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 will help refocus 
important federal prosecutorial resources to the major drug traffickers 
instead of low-level offenders and it will provide more discretion to 
judges by making some long overdue changes to current law: eliminating 
all mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses; curbing federal 
prosecutions of low-level drug offenders; and allowing courts to place 
drug users on probation or suspend the sentence.
  Mandatory minimums have been repealed before. A 2008 report issued by 
Families Against Mandatory Minimums describes how Congress first 
enacted mandatory drug sentences in the 1950s, then voted to repeal 
them in 1970 because they failed to reduce drug trafficking. I would 
like to refer Members to the report at the following site: http://
www.famm.org/Repository/Files/8189_FAMM_BoggsAct_final.pdf. In a recent 
poll, 8 in 10 Americans agreed that courts--not Congress--should 
determine prison sentences, and 6 in 10 opposed mandatory sentences for 
nonviolent offenders. Today's Congress should heed the American people 
and repeal mandatory minimums again.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support The Major Drug Trafficking 
Prosecution Act of 2009.

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