NCJ Number
147518
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 84 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1993) Pages: 377-409
Date Published
1993
Length
33 pages
Annotation
Drug trafficking offenses and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are discussed.
Abstract
Sentences under section 2D1.1 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are to be based upon the total weight of the controlled substance possessed by a particular offender. As a result, drug traffickers who deal in larger quantities of controlled substances should theoretically receive longer prison sentences. The total weight, however, is not necessarily based on the quantity of the pure substance according to the interpretation by the Federal courts to a footnote to this section. The Federal courts have applied this section inconsistently when determining which combination of drugs and other materials constitute a "mixture or substance." This Comment suggests that current federal court interpretations of "mixture or substance" are inconsistent with the underlying purposes of the Guidelines because the interpretations do not adequately relate drug offender punishments to criminal culpability and because they promote disparate sentencing practices. This Comment sets forth the basic goals Congress directed the U.S. Sentencing Commission to achieve in promulgating the Guidelines, summarizes the U.S. Supreme Court's definition of "mixture" as applied to LSD and blotter paper in Chapman v. United States, criticizes the Court's approach and discusses conflicting lower Federal court applications of the Chapman decision, and proposes a revision of the drug offender sentencing provisions in light of the failure of the current provisions to provide the just, uniform, and proportional sentencing scheme envisioned by Congress.