HEADLINE: Many Drug Criminals in Federal Prisons Found Not to Be Violent Publication Date: Saturday February 5, 1994 More than one in five federal prisoners are low-level drug criminals with no record of violence and no involvement in sophisticated criminal activity, according to a Justice Department study released Friday. The study was ordered by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to see if the growing use of mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes was wasting space in overcrowded federal prisons that she felt could be better used for violent, repeat criminals. The study found that 16,316 prisoners, or 21.5% of federal inmates, have no current or prior violence on their records, no involvement in sophisticated criminal activity and no previous prison time. The study, produced by the office of Deputy Atty. Gen. Philip B. Heymann, the Bureau of Prisons and selected U.S. attorneys, offered no recommendations. But it noted that it costs $20,000 a year to house a federal inmate. "Some might argue that these resources could be used more efficiently to promote other criminal justice needs, such as providing more money for additional police in our communities," the report said. It offered these findings about the petty offenders: * Their average sentences are 2 1/2 times longer than before sentencing guidelines and the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act imposed mandatory minimum sentences for drug and weapons crimes. * Two out of three received mandatory minimum sentences. * A total of 42.3% were couriers or played peripheral roles in drug trafficking. * Length of prison time had no effect on whether they returned to crime. "At least for the low-level defendants, a short prison sentence is just as likely to deter them from future offending as a long prison sentence." The report noted that long sentences "do serve important criminal justice goals, such as retribution and incapacitation" and may promote general deterrence. On the other hand, it said, they "may diminish the value of long sentences for crimes considered more serious, such as those involving violence," and undermine the deterrent value of long sentences for violent crimes. There are proposals in Congress to provide a "safety valve" to give judges a way around mandatory minimums in certain cases where they appear too severe. The Clinton Administration has offered modest support for this concept.