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A United States Sentencing Commission study released November 23 found that the number of minority offenders doing time in federal prisons has climbed dramatically since the introduction of federal sentencing guidelines in 1987. Minorities now make up a majority of the federal prison population, the study found.

Whites made up 60% of the federal inmate population in 1984, but only 35% of federal inmates in 2002. The study pointed to disparities in sentences for blacks and whites as part of the reason. While both groups received average sentences of a little over two years in 1984, blacks are now serving an average of six years, while whites are serving only four. According to the report, the disparity is attributable in part to harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes enacted by Congress. In 2002, 81% of federal drug offenders were black, the report noted.

The length of the average prison sentence has doubled to more than four years, twice what it was in 1984, before the sentencing guidelines were in effect. According to the commission, the increase in sentence length is mostly due to the guidelines' elimination of parole.

Another reason for the relative decline in white prisoners is the dramatic growth in Hispanics imprisoned for immigration violations. According to the report, this group has grown from 15% of federal prisoners in 1984 to 40% in 2002.

The Sentencing Commission found that sentencing guidelines had made sentencing "more certain and predictable," but also generated the racial disparities mentioned above. The Supreme Court is currently considering a case that challenges the constitutionality of those guidelines. A decision in that case could come as early as next week.

Read the study, "15 Years of Guidelines Sentencing," at http://www.ussc.gov/15_year/15year.htm online.

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