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FEDERAL SENTENCING PROCEDURE

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But I want to present to you just how wide this disparity is.
One of the ways to show that is to show the extent to which the
erent judges use probation. You will see that in this chart [indi-
ng] that the extent to which probation is used varied from 69
cent in Vermont to 15 percent in western Texas (chart No. 3).

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This figure in western Texas is a bit distorted because in western Texas we have a very large number of commitments of Mexican aliens under the Immigration Act, for violating the Immigration Act. Of course, you cannot do very much to supervise them on probation, because, theoretically, they will be back in Mexico. You cannot actually take that figure for much of this purpose; but if you take the next one up above, western Tennessee and Arizona, you see that only 19 percent of the cases coming in those courts are granted probation.

That is a pretty good example of the extent of this disparity. From one extreme, which we find in New England, to another extreme, which we find down in the Southwest, that is.

Mr. WILLIS. I see in the western district of Louisiana that the percentage is 52. In the eastern district of Louisiana the percentage is 21.

Mr. BENNETT. That is right, sir. Now, if you will permit me, we will reduce this to some specific cases. The largest single type of offender we receive in Federal institutions are people who steal automobiles and transport them across State lines. We receive upward of 6,000 such cases during last year.

Those sentences, if you will look at this chart, show the disparity of sentences in automobile theft cases (chart No. 4). These cases are, however, very much alike. There is a great similarity in the type of people who steal these cars. They are usually young people, young boys under the age of 25; they are stealing the automobile not for the purpose of commercializing on it or selling it or making money, but in order to get from where they are to someplace else.

They are escaping from some situation in their home, in search of some El Dorado in someplace else.

You take northern Oklahoma, for example, the average sentence for persons convicted of violating the Auto Theft Act is 36 months. In New Hampshire the average sentence is about 10 months.

In northern Mississippi it is about 15 months.

I have those exact figures, Mr. Chairman, which I shall file for the record.

Mr. WILLIS. Those charts will be received for our files and made a part of this hearing where possible.

Mr. BENNETT. We can see the same thing with regard to the liquor law. Making moonshine liquor is pretty much alike all over the country.

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By and large the people that violate that law are pretty much alike. They are economically a deprived group, and they have gone into manufacturing liquor, which is their only way of making a living— at least they think that is their only way. We will disregard the District of Columbia, because there are so few cases, but if you will look at the chart and see northern Indiana, you see it runs about 33⁄4 years; whereas, in a nearby area, eastern Pennsylvania, it runs to less than a year, so it is four times as serious an offense, in other words, to violate the liquor laws in northern Indiana as it is in eastern Pennsylvania (chart No. 5). This is hardly, I think, in line with your ideas or those of most people as to what an equitable system of justice should be.

CHART No. 5

DISPARITY OF AVERAGE SENTENCE

LIQUOR LAW COMMITMENTS TO FEDERAL PRISONS: 1957

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Now, you see the same thing with regard to forgery commitments. That likewise means that it is an offense for which we have increasing numbers. These are usually Government checks, usually in small amounts, which are stolen from apartment house mailboxes or rural mailboxes, or somebody gets hold of grandmother's social security check before she does, and they run out and cash it.

You will see that in western North Carolina and Eastern Virginia that offense is punished usually by about 20 months, whereas down in northern Ohio they get about 3 months for that same offense (chart No. 6).

CHART NO. 6

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