Compiled by
Paul Stanford
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Without further ado, please enjoy the news:
UPsw 07/20/94 tx-jail
ALPINE, Texas, July 20 (UPI) - Three people, one of them a former jailer,
have been arrested on charges of taking drugs and alcohol into the Brewster
County Jail, which was closed May 31 because of lax security.
Officials arrested Carolyn Sue Wagner and Carmen Alexandria Brown Tuesday on
charges of taking prohibited substances into the jail. Wagner was accused of
carrying marijuana into the jail, and Brown allegedly took wine into the
facility.
Former jailer Marcos Alvarez was arrested Monday on the same charge for
allegedly taking cocaine into the aging jail, which was shut down May 31 amid
reports of drug and alcohol use and lax security.
Last Friday, a Brewster County grand jury indicted the three suspects and a
fourth man, Joel Fuentez, whose escape from the jail sparked an investigation
into security and operations.
A confidential informant ordered into the jail by district attorney Albert
Valadez reported smelling marijuana smoke in the cellblock and alcohol on the
breath of some employees, officials said.
County commissioners, meanwhile, are studying proposed costs and sites to
build a new jail. Renovation of a the old jail is not an option because of its
status as an historic landmark.
APn 07/20/94 Drug Use
By CAROLYN SKORNECK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans' use of illegal drugs leveled off last year
after 13 straight years of declines, the Clinton administration said Wednesday.
From a high of 24.3 million in 1979, the number of people who had used an
illicit drug in the previous month dropped to a low of 11.4 million in 1992,
then rose to 11.7 million last year. The increase was not considered
statistically significant.
"Many of these remaining drug users are chronic, hard-core users, whose
addictions are clearly more severe and who are more difficult to reach and more
resistant to change," said Donna Shalala, secretary of health and human
services.
The data are from the 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, run by
Shalala's department. The findings are based on answers given to
government-hired questioners in households nationwide, and the survey notes
"possible underreporting of drug using behavior by respondents."
More than three-quarters of the 11.7 million current users ingested marijuana
-- 9 million -- with about 7 million of them using marijuana alone, the rest
combining it with other drugs, the survey said. Another 1.3 million current
users took cocaine, the survey found.
The largest ever current marijuana use estimate was 22.5 million in 1979,
while the largest current cocaine use estimate was 5.3 million in 1985.
Compared with 1979, when 24.3 million current users represented 13.7 percent
of the population age 12 and older, the 11.7 million of last year represented
5.6 percent of that population, the survey said.
Lee Brown, director of the administration's Office of National Drug Control
Policy, said the survey underestimates some hard-core addict populations because
it excludes the homeless, prisoners, people living at colleges, active military
and those in other institutions.
Brown's office estimates there are 2.1 million hard-core cocaine addicts,
while the survey says there are 476,000. As for heroin addicts, Brown's office
says there are 600,000, while the survey offers no reliable estimates.
The Bush administration focused on reducing casual use, Brown said, and the
survey "shows the success in cutting casual use dramatically."
"But that was the first and the easy step," Brown said. "Now we have the hard
work ahead of us." Brown's predecessor under Bush, Bob Martinez, sounded a
similar theme.
Brown and Shalala said the findings support the administration's call for
spending $355 million more to treat hard-core drug users, and Brown said the
House has passed only $60 million for that program.
They also urged passage of a pending major crime bill, which has millions
more for treating incarcerated drug abusers, and Clinton's health-care reform
plan, which would cover drug treatment.
Of the 11.7 million current users, 1.4 million were age 12-17; 3.8 million
were 18-25; 3.2 million were 26-34; and 3.3 million were 35 and older, the
survey said.
Although Brown and Shalala focused on the hard-core use, even casual use
stopped declining, the survey found.
"I don't think we can speculate" on why casual use did not decline last year,
said Daniel Melnick, who heads the Office of Applied Sciences of the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Administration, which runs the survey.
There were no statistics on total occasional use of illicit drugs -- defined
as use in the past year but less often than monthly -- but the study provided
data on marijuana and cocaine.
Occasional marijuana use jumped from 8.8 million in 1992 to 9.6 million last
year, still far below the 13.7 million of 1985. For cocaine, occasional use
declined from 3.5 million in 1992 to 3.0 million last year, down from 8.1
million in 1985. Some occasional users may have consumed both marijuana and
cocaine.
The study found 77 million Americans, or 37.2 percent of adults 12 and older,
have used an illicit drug at least once. Almost 70 million have used marijuana,
23.5 million cocaine, and 18 million hallucinogens.
AAP 07/20/94 POLICE SEIZE DRUGS WORTH $100,000
BRISBANE, July 20 AAP - Police have charged 23 people with a total of 75
drug offences during a four-month undercover operation targeting the Airlie
Beach area in north Queensland.
A police spokesman said drugs with a street value of $100,000 were seized
during Operation Dowry, which involved more than 30 police.
The drugs involved were cannabis and amphetamines.
Those charged were expected to appear in the Proserpine Magistrates Court
today and tomorrow.
AAP jhm/geb/co
PA 07/21/94 MINISTER REJECTS LEGALISING CANNABIS
By Peter Mulligan, Parliamentary Staff, PA News
Home Office Minister of State David Maclean today warned drug dealers in
Jamaica not to come to Britain as he ruled out any move to decriminalise
cannabis.
Mr Maclean, responding in a short debate, stressed that tough jail sentences
awaited those convicted of dealing.
He disclosed police had reported to him a reggae song played on the radio in
Kingston, Jamaica, which urged dealers to visit this country.
"The encouragement to come to London was the suggestion that `the police
don't bang, the courts don't hang and the sentence ain't lang'", he told MPs.
He warned: "Certainly the police do not bang and our courts do not hang but
they have some very long sentences for those dealing in drugs."
He added: "London ought not to be an attractive place for international drug
dealers to come."
Mr Maclean dismissed an appeal by Labour's Paul Flynn (Newport W) to consider
decriminalisation of cannabis as a means of cutting drug-related crime.
He said drug barons would still try to oversee the market and added: "If this
country signalled that it was dropping controls on some drugs for misguided
reeasons, we would be perceived as a soft touch."
Cannabis made users "light headed and unable to concentrate" and increasing
its availablity through decriminalisation would have "serious conseequences" for
public health and safety, he said.
He also told MPs that a strain called Skunk was increasingly available on the
streets of Britain. It was said to be five times stronger than ordinary
cannabis.
Mr Flynn called for a Royal Commission to consider decriminalisation to
combat rising crime and warned: "If we go on as we are, we will end up as they
have in America."
UPn 07/22/94 Report: Poland major drug producer
WARSAW, July 22 (UPI) -- Poland has become the world's second-largest
producer of illegal synthetic drugs after the Netherlands, according to a report
by Polish law enforcement authorities released Friday.
The report by the State Protection Office said that the drugs, mainly
amphetamines, are of top quality and very attractive items for international
narcotics smugglers and dealers.
"The scale of supply of amphetamines, which caused a drastic drop in their
prices in 1993, testifies to a large number of underground laboratories and
their huge production capacity," the report said.
Amphetamines cost between $8,000 and $10,000 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) in 1993,
but the current price has dropped to $3,500, the report said.
It said information obtained by law enforcement authorities indicates there
are plans to begin production of amphetamine derivatives "on a very large scale"
in Poland.
"Also recorded are attempts to introduce into international circulation a
Polish-made 'kompot,' a brew made from poppy straw. Numerous illegal marijuana
plantations are being started in Poland," the report said.
Poland has also become a major transit point in the world's narcotics trade,
the report said.
The report said drugs are shipped to Poland from three major areas, the
"Golden Half-Moon" (Afganistan, Pakistan and Iran), the "Golden Triangle"
(Burma, Laos and Thailand), and South America. From Poland, the narcotics are
forwarded to Western Europe.
In 1993, Polish authorities foiled 17 attempts at smuggling drugs through the
country. Seized were 238 pounds (108 kg) of cocaine, 6.6 tons of hashish, 1,190
pounds (540 kg) of marijuana and 27.5 pounds (12. 5 kg) of heroin.
RTw 07/24/94 POLICE GRAB DRUGS FROM PAKISTAN WORTH $23 MILLION
LONDON, July 24 (Reuter) - Police have seized some 5,000 kilos of cannabis
with a street value of about 15 million pounds ($23 million) in one of Britain's
biggest ever drugs hauls, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.
The drugs were found on a container ship from Pakistan when it docked on
Saturday in Felixstowe, eastern England.
A 30-year-old company director from east London has been charged in
connection with the seizure and will appear in court on Monday, the police
spokeswoman said.
REUTER
RTna 07/25/94 SINGAPORE CHARGES BURMESE MAN AFTER HEROIN HAUL
SINGAPORE (Reuter) - A 25-year-old Burmese man has been charged with illegal
transportion of drugs after pure heroin worth $3 million was allegedly found in
his baggage at Singapore's Changi Airport Saturday night.
It was the first heroin seizure at the airport this year and one of its
biggest ever.
Nearly 10 pounds of heroin was found hidden in a bag carried by Aung Myat
on a flight from Thailand, state television said Monday.
Under Singapore's tough anti-drug laws, the death sentence is mandatory for
anyone found guilty of trafficking in more than half an ounce of heroin, one
ounce of morphine or 18 ounces of cannabis.
Singapore has hanged 59 people for drug trafficking since it introduced the
anti-drug laws in 1975.
REUTER
PA 07/25/94 BUSINESS ON CANNABIS CHARGES
A businessman was remanded in custody today following the seizure of 5,000
kilos of cannabis with a street value of 17 million on a container ship.
Company director Shahid Cheema, 30, of Germander Way, West Ham, east London,
who faces three charges, was remanded to August 1 by Bow Street magistrates.
Police raided the container vessel on its arrival in Felixstowe, Suffolk,
from Pakistan, on Saturday.
Cheema is charged with being concerned in making an offer to supply cannabis
on July 6 this year at the Excelsior Hotel at Heathrow, west London, and with
assisting in the commission of an offence overseas, namely the export of illegal
drugs.
He is also charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply on July 24,
1994, within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court.
07/25/94 Canadians high on hemp's market potential
UPI Business World (650 words)
Cannabis Sativa set to stage comeback as crop for fiber
BY GEOFF DALE
TILLSONBURG, Ontario, July 25 (UPI) -- Joe Strobel sowed the seeds just six
weeks ago on Canada's first legal hemp crop in 50 years, but he's already heard
enough drug jokes to last a lifetime.
"I like the one when I'm asked whether my hemp being used for clothing means
I'm into 'high' fashion," jokes Strobel, a 64-year-old retired school teacher
turned farmer. "And of course, there are some who simply refer to me as 'The
Marijuana Man.'"
Hemp, an agricultural product used to make such things as rope and fiber for
clothing and paper, comes from the same plant that produces marijuana.
The stalks of the Cannabis Sativa plant make up hemp, while the leaves and
buds are marijuana.
Because of the plant's druggy connections, Canada banned once-popular hemp
production around World War II's end.
But now, environmentalists, farmers and businesses have begun calling for
resurrecting hemp as an alternative to lumber, cotton and wood pulp used for
such things as clothing and paper.
Several European and Asian countries already allow farmers to cultivate
certain types of hemp.
Canada has begun looking at the plant as an alternative to the nation's
once-lucrative tobacco crop, which has been losing luster as cigarette smoking
falls from favor.
"You don't get high on hemp because it is low in tetrahydrocannabino
(the active substance in marijuana)," Strobel says. "This crop is being
explored purely to see if it can be a viable alternative to tobacco growing."
However, Canadian farmers cannot commercially grow hemp unless Parliament
modifies the nation's laws.
Observers say Parliament might act this year on a federal bill to license
hemp production.
The government has already given Strobel and his 11-member consortium, "Hemp
Line Incorporated," permission to grow an experimental crop to determine how
five hemp varieties might fare on world markets.
The consortium, headquartered near Tillsonburg in the heart of
tobacco-growing southwest Ontario, plans to harvest its pioneering hemp crop of
70 to 80 tons in August or September.
To make sure Strobel doesn't become a real "Marijuana Man," police and
government officials plan to monitor his harvest.
Francine Manard of the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs in Ottawa says authorities
also reserve the right to inspect Strobel's farms at any time.
Strobel concedes hemp's per-acre revenues will only total about 40 to 50
percent of tobacco's.
"Let's say, for example, we get $4,000 per acre for tobacco. Hemp might get
us, initially, around $1,500-$2,000 per acre," he says.
Ontario Agriculture Ministry officials agree that hemp will probably never
rival tobacco as a Canadian cash crop.
"I have grave doubts about whether (hemp) will bring in the kind of dollars
generated by tobacco, or even high-quality vegetables," says Bill Baxter, a
rural-business consultant.
Hemp cultivation has also proved more difficult than Strobel's group
expected.
"We had expected better results, but there are some things we didn't
anticipate," he says. "Fertilization is a major (problem), but we've corrected
things as we went along. We are learning from our first year errors."
Government officials, farmers and business people are anxiously awaiting the
outcome of Strobel's first harvest.
"Until we know how competitively we can grow and manufacture (hemp), we don't
know whether we'll have an industry," consultant Baxter says.
"Right now, we don't know the cost of a pound of fiber or bolt of fabric, and
we don't know the type of processing we'll need," he says. "But this fall, we'll
have a much better idea."
(release at will)
PA 07/26/94 TWO CHARGED OVER POLICE `CORRUPTION' CLAIMS
By Gavin Cordon, PA News
Two Metropolitan Police officers were tonight facing criminal charges
following a three-year inquiry into alleged corruption.
But 44 other officers from Stoke Newington station, north London, who were
investigated by Operation Jackpot, will not be prosecuted because of a lack of
evidence, said the Crown Prosecution Service.
Its announcement brought angry accusations of a cover-up from local
activists, who claimed officers from the station were involved in drug-dealing
and planting evidence on suspects.
The CPS said Pc Ronald Palumbo and Detective Constable Barry Lyons were being
charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and perjury.
"After careful consideration, and with the advice of Treasury counsel, the
CPS has decided that there is insufficient evidence to support a realistic
prospect of convicting any other officer for any criminal offence as a result of
the investigation known as Operation Jackpot."
Altogether 22 cases of alleged wrongdoing were passed by the Jackpot team to
the CPS for consideration.
The Hackney Community Defence Association, which led the campaign for an
investigation into police conduct, dismissed the CPS's decision.
"This is an insult to the local community," said spokesman Graham Smith.
"Somewhere along the line there seemed to be a change of heart by the police
establishment about what they were going to do about Stoke Newington.
"Instead of a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it, it became a
cover-up. It was too much to accept that police officers were dealing in drugs."
The Police Complaints Authority, which supervised the inquiry, said
disciplinary charges could still be brought against officers investigated by
Operation Jackpot.
"We are awaiting disciplinary recommendations from the Metropolitan Police
service," said a PCA spokesman. "However the PCA will have the final say on
whether there will be any disciplianry charges."
Jackpot, led by Detective Superintendent Ian Russell of Scotland Yard's
Complaints Investigation Bureau and supervised by the PCA, was launched in April
1991.
It was prompted by claims from convicted drug dealer Pearl Cameron that some
Stoke Newington officers dealt in drugs.
Other allegations followed from people claiming drugs were planted on them by
officers.
In the courts, a string of convictions in cases involving Stoke Newington
officers were overturned.
To date, 12 people have been cleared of offences on appeal.
One officer central to many of the allegations, Det Con Roy Lewandowski, was
jailed for 18 months for stealing valuables from the home of a burglary victim
who had died.
Charges against Palumbo and Lyons relate to the September 1991 trial of
Dennis Tulloch for possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply.
Palumbo also faces charges for alleged perjury during the trial of Paul Noel
in December 1991 for possesion of cannabis with intent to supply.
Mr Tulloch's conviction was quashed on appeal while Mr Noel was acquitted.
Palumbo and Lyons will appear before London's Bow Street magistrates on
September 13.
RTw 07/28/94 READERS POLLED WANT MARIJUANA LEGALIZED
Release at 6 P.M. EDT (2200 GMT)
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuter) - Marijuana should be as legal as alcohol and
made available for medical purposes, according to a telephone poll conducted by
Parade Magazine.
More than 50,000 readers took part in the informal poll, using a telephone
line set up by the magazine following an article it published on marijuana. The
results will appear in the current issue of the magazine, which goes on sale
Sunday.
The survey found that 89 percent said marijuana should be legal for medical
purposes with 75 percent of the participants saying they felt it should be as
legal as alcoholic beverages.
The survey also found that of the 51,797 people who called to express their
opinion, women outnumbered men by 7 percent.
Thirty-five percent of the callers said they were frequent users of
marijuana. Another 32 percent said they used the drug occasionally. Nearly 20
percent said they never touched it.
The callers ranged in age from under 18 to over 75. A majority of the
callers were between ages 26 and 50.
REUTER
AAP 07/28/94 AUSTRALIAN FILM CREW CAUGHT WITH DRUGS
PORT MORESBY, July 28 AAP - Two Melbourne men working with new James Bond
actor Pierce Brosnan on his latest feature film, Robinson Crusoe, have been
charged with possessing marijuana.
Gregory Ryan, 41, and Steve John Haggerty, 38, were granted bail after
appearing earlier this week in the Madang court, a coastal resort where the
film is being made.
Two PNG women aged 18 and 21, who were accompanying the men, were also
charged.
Police were apparently given a tip-off about the four, who were arrested
when two rooms at a local hotel were raided.
They were carrying a small amount of marijuana, worth about $70.
Mr Brosnan has been in PNG for several weeks filming the epic.
AAP clp/co
AAP 07/28/94 MAN ACCUSED OF BEING MAFIA CHIEF COMMITTED FOR TRIAL
TOWNSVILLE, July 28 AAP - A man accused by a police informant of being a
Mafia chief has been committed for trial charged with growing an $8 million
cannabis crop in north Queensland.
A Townsville magistrate decided Rocco "Roy" Sergi, 50, of Griffith, New
South Wales, had a case to answer after a four-day committal in which the
informant said police were lying and a detective accused him of perjury.
The crown's chief witness, known only as Mr X, had told police Sergi was the
mastermind behind the crop and a leader of Mafia syndicates which financed
other drug plantations around Australia.
The head of the Northern Region Drug Squad, Detective Sergeant Peter Wright,
said today that the chief crown witness had lied and perjured himself when he
accused police of reneging on a deal for immunity from prosecution.
Mr X served six months in jail for his part in growing the cannabis crop.
Sgt Wright said he had never offered Mr X indemnity but admitted he had told
the Queensland Director of Prosecutions that Mr X was a federal police
informant even though he knew that was not true.
He also denied allegations by his chief witness that he had doctored a tape
recording made when Mr X alleged he was offered immunity if he turned Queen's
evidence and implicated Sergi in the plantation.
Defence counsel Marcus Weinberg, QC, told Sgt Wright: "He also says you're
not an honest policeman ... he says you and others doctored that tape."
Sgt Wright replied: "He didn't even know that tape was in existence."
He also denied evidence from Mr X that after being charged he had promised
the informer would get a good behaviour bond and not go to jail.
Sgt Wright told Mr Weinberg he would not charge Mr X with perjury because he
was a crown witness.
Sgt Wright also agreed he had not charged Sergi in November 1991, when three
other men faced committal proceedings over the plantation.
He agreed he did not have any more evidence against Sergi now than he did at
that time.
Sgt Wright said Sergi's name, as a member of a Griffith family which had
been in frequent trouble with police, was not the reason he was charged.
However, he agreed he had charged Sergi after the National Crime Authority
became involved with the case.
Sergi formally pleaded not guilty to a charge of producing a dangerous drug
at Strathtay Holding Pentland between June 20 and August 31, 1991.
He will appear at the November sittings of the Supreme Court in Townsville.
AAP cas/rad/lee
UPma 07/28/94 Limo riders go into court
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio, July 28 (UPI) -- Four Lorain County women, so excited
about attending a rock concert that they rented a limousine for the trip,
pleaded innocent Wednesday to having an open alcohol container in their limo.
The defendants -- Jeanne Mullins, Holly Brunke, Tammy Mitchell, Sue Lewellen
and 14-year-old Suzanne Canterbury -- spent $180 to rent the limo to travel to
Blossom Music Center for a Michael Bolton concert last week.
Before leaving Lorain, the women opened a free bottle of Champaign provided
by the All Diamonds Limousine Service, toasted Bolton, and then headed to the
concert.
But the women didn't know they were being spied upon, as Cuyahoga Falls
police officials confirmed to the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. As the limo
approached the music center, an undercover police spotter hidden in a row of
trees peered into the vehicle from a distance and thought he saw someone smoking
marijuana. He radioed to other officers, who stopped the car.
Three officers discovered it was a cigarette and not marijuana one of the
women was smoking.
But the women, anxious to prove their innocence, invited the officers to look
inside the limousine. The officers did so and found the empty bottle. They then
charged each of the women with possessing an open alcohol container in a motor
vehicle, a minor misdemeanor which cold cost each defendant $155.
The case will go to trial Aug. 15.
But the women rode to court Wednesday in the same limousine, free of charge.
And they won't have to pay for two defense lawyers. Mike Weikle of North
Royalton and Dan Shields of Cleveland volunteered to defend the women at no
charge after reading about their plight in the newspaper and becoming outraged
at the actions of the Cuyahoga Falls officers.
"It was an empty bottle," said Weikle. "It's like four people have been cited
for having control of trash."
Shields said he doesn't believe people want to see police officers involved
in spying on citizens.
"They posted these individuals in trees, spying on people as they go by," he
said.
Both lawyers said they have serious questions about the constitutionality of
the stop and the search. They said courts have held that if a stop isn't based
on reasonable suspicion of criminal behavior, anything discovered in a
subsequent search cannot be used as evidence.
The city defended its spying activities, claiming they have reduced drunken
driving and disturbances in the area.
RTw 07/28/94 THAI FM SAYS POLITICIAN GAINED $400 MLN FROM DRUGS
BANGKOK, July 28 (Reuter) - Thai Foreign Minister Prasong Soonsiri told
parliament in closed session on Thursday he had evidence an opposition
politician had made at least $400 million from the drugs trade, a source at the
session said.
Prasong, in parliament facing a no-confidence vote, said the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration had given him information showing Vatana Asavahame
had been involved in marijuana trafficking for 20 years, the source, a
government member of parliament, said.
"Vatana gained at least 10 billion baht ($400 million) from the marijuana
trade," the source quoted Prasong as saying.
The U.S. Embassy earlier confirmed reports that Vatana was refused a visa
in June to travel to the United States because of suspicion he was, or had been,
involved in drugs trafficking. It did not elaborate.
Vatana, deputy leader of the opposition Chart Thai party, has vigorously
denied the allegations and has filed a defamation suit against the U.S.
Ambassador to Thailand, David Lambertson, and the director of the Bangkok office
of the U.S. Information Service (USIS).
Vatana was the third Thai politician, all from opposition parties, to be
hit by U.S. drug trafficking allegations in less than two months.
The opposition has filed no-confidence motions against four ministers in
the coalition government alleging incompetence and abuse of authority.
It has specifically accused Prasong of leaking the details of the U.S. drug
allegations.
Chart Thai members of parliament had to be restrained from throwing their
shoes at Prasong while he made his accusations on Thursday, reading from a pile
of documents which he said contained the details of Vatana's deals, the source
said.
"Vatana stomped out of the room before Prasong even finished," he said.
Opposition leaders have said they do not expect to win the no-confidence
vote, expected on Friday, but hope to expose the ministers' alleged wrongdoings
to the public.
REUTER
WP 07/28/94 KEY COMPROMISES
A Democratic proposal for a compromise crime bill includes the following key
provisions, which would cost $30.2 billion and would terminate after six years.
POLICE
Grants for localities to hire 100,000 officers for community policing.
College scholarships for a "police corps." More Border Patrol guards and other
federal police agents.
Main compromise: Accepts Senate's higher funding for "cops on the beat."
Final tally: $13.0 billion
PRISONS
State grants to build prisons to house violent criminals and establish "boot
camps" for young offenders. Bans college student grants for inmates. Reimburses
states for incarceration of illegal criminal immigrants.
Main compromises: Splits difference between House and Senate funding.
Final tally: $8.3 billion
PREVENTION
Grants for recreation, employment, anti-gang and comprehensive programs to
steer youth away from crime. Drug treatment for federal and state inmates.
Programs to fight violence against women.
Main compromise: Increases funding to House level.
Final tally: $7.6 billion
DRUG COURTS
Special courts to provide treatment and close monitoring of first-time or
nonviolent drug offenders.
Main compromise: Accepts higher House funding.
Final tally: $1.3 billion
CRIME TRUST FUND
Savings from a cut of 252,000 federal jobs put in new trust fund for bill's
programs.
Main compromise: Extends Senate's trust fund to six years.
Estimated final tally: $30.2 billion
ASSAULT WEAPONS
Bans 19 semiautomatic weapons. Exemptions for 650 firearms by name. Gun clips
limited to 10 bullets.
Same as Senate version and separate House bill.
DEATH PENALTY
Increases from two to about 60 the number of federal crimes punishable by
death, such as fatal carjackings and drive-by shootings. Establishes procedures
to resume federal executions.
Main compromises: Omits from House bill provision that would allow prisoners
to use racial statistics to challenge death sentences and omits Senate's death
penalty for murder with a gun.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
Life in prison for three-time felons with last conviction for violent or
drug-related federal crime. Possible release for inmates over 70 after 30 years
if deemed no longer dangerous.
Main compromises: Deletes property crimes in Senate bill and accepts
geriatric exemption in House's.
JUVENILE CRIME
Federal prosecutions of 13- and 14-year-olds as adults allowed for some
violent crimes. Ban on sale of handguns to juveniles.
Main compromise: Drops Senate requirement to treat these juveniles as
adults.
PRISON OVERCROWDING
Early release from federal prisons permitted for first-time, nonviolent drug
offenders serving mandatory minimum sentences.
Main compromise: Accepts broader House language.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Gender-based violence made a civil rights violation. Grants to encourage
domestic violence arrests without consent of abuse victim. Federal penalties for
interstate stalking or spouse abuse.
Main compromise: Adopts Senate provision on civil rights violation.
Source: House-Senate conference committee on crime bill
End
Compiled by
Paul Stanford