Legislative
Update
7/17/98
The following articles are reprinted from the Drug Policy Foundation's Network News, a monthly publication for DPF's advocacy network. To sign up to receive Network News, contact DPF at (202) 537-5005, e-mail [email protected] or visit DPF's web site at http://www.dpf.org. MONEY LAUNDERING BILL EXPANDS CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE H.R. 3745, the "Money Laundering Act of 1998," was unveiled by Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) as one of the bills to expand the war on drugs; its main focus is broadening the government's forfeiture powers. H.R. 3745 raises constitutional concerns including possible Fourth Amendment, due process and privacy rights violations. Additionally, H.R. 3745 intrudes on the role of the federal courts by significantly changing the rules of evidence and civil procedure, and conflicts with current efforts to curb U.S. Treasury and Justice Department forfeiture excesses. Some of the most troubling aspects of H.R. 3745 are the civil (non-criminal) asset forfeiture provisions. H.R. 3745 would:
REP.RANGEL SEEKS ELIMINATION OF SENTENCING DISPARITY The criminal justice approach to dealing with the problems presented by drug use has created unacceptable social and legal side effects. Due to discriminatory enforcement practices and unjust mandatory minimum sentencing laws, a disproportionate number of young African-Americans are in prison for low-level drug offenses. While it only take five grams of crack cocaine to trigger a five-year mandatory minimum, it takes 500 grams of powder cocaine to receive the same sentence. Rep. Charles Ranger (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 2031, the "Crack-Cocaine Equitable Sentencing Act of 1997," to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. One of DPF's short-term priorities is to raise public awareness of the injustices of mandatory sentencing and its failure to have an impact on crime. DPF's first priority in this area is the elimination of the disparity in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Rep. Rangel has requested that supporters of this legislation write to their members of Congress to express their support and request that their representative become a co-sponsor of this bill. (You can call your Representative (or find out who your rep is) via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224- 3121. You can write to your rep at: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Further information on asset forfeiture is available from Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, http://www.fear.org. Further information on mandatory minimums is available from Families Against Mandatory Minimums, http://www.famm.org.)
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