Sentencing Guidelines update

from FedCURE

The following is a short summary and a portion of the text from the Amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that became effective November 1, 2002.

The complete text of the Amendments can be found at www.ussc.gov. Amendment IV has the most significant impact on federal prison issues. This amendment effectively established a cap or ceiling for low level drug offenders based solely on drug quantity for defendants deemed minor participants.

This amendment strikes a balance between drug quantity and defendants' participation. The amendment prevents low level drug offenders' base sentences from being above level 30 based on the drug quantity.

Amendment IV will not result in wholesale changes to drug sentences. The only defendants covered by it are those found by a court to have been minor or minimal participants in drug offenses. While the amendment would cap their base offense level at 30, it does not prohibit a judge from increasing the sentence based on any other factor the court deems appropriate. The Sentencing Commission estimates that only six percent of all drug defendants -those who receive a minimal role adjustment - will qualify, approximately 240 people each year.

While this is a victory for those of us who oppose mandatory minimum sentences, it is not enough. We must not become complacent, but must remain vigilant as we continue to urge both Congress and the Sentencing Commission to not only address sentencing factors, but to reinstitute parole in the federal system in order to correct what can only be called draconian sentences of many current federal inmates.

§2C1.1.

DRUG TRAFFICKING - The amendment modifies §2D1.1(a)(3) to provide a maximum base offense level of level 30 if the defendant receives an adjustment under §3B1.2 (Mitigating Role). This limits the sentencing impact of drug quantity for offenders who perform relatively low level trafficking functions, have little authority in the organization, and have a lower degree of individual culpability. The amendment also modifies the maximum base offense under subsection (a)(2) of §2D1.8 (Renting or Managing a Drug Establishment; Attempt or Conspiracy) from offense level 16 to offense level 26. Although these offenders may not participate directly in the underlying controlled substance offense, they knowingly and intentionally facilitate and profit, at least indirectly, from the trafficking of illegal drugs. Additionally, the amendment (1) revises the Typical Weight Per Unit (Dose, Pill, or Capsule) Table in §2D1.1 to reflect more accurately the type and weight of ecstacy pills typically trafficked and consumed by adding a reference for MDMA, with a typical weight of 250 milligrams; (2) revises the typical weight for MDA from 100 milligrams of the actual controlled substance to 250 milligrams of the mixture or substance containing the controlled substance; and (3) clarifies that the two level reduction under §2D1.1(b)(6) for defendants who meet the criteria set forth in §5C1.2 (Limitation on Applicability of Statutory Minimum Sentences in Certain Cases) does not depend on whether the defendant is convicted under a statute that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.

FedCURE-Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants: Federal Prison Chapter
A National Effort to Reduce Crime Through Criminal Justice Reform
P.O. Box 153 · Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068
Phone: 614-501-6897
E-mail: director@fedcure.org · Web: www.fedcure.org
Executive Director: Karen S. Bond, J.D.

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