Momentum Builds for NY Drug Law Reform
Published March 19, 2009 @ 05:31AM PT
New York is one vote away from sweeping reforms to its three-decade-old Rockefeller drug laws, which require mandatory minimums for people convicted of drug crimes in the state. The Draconian laws led the way for a national trend toward harsh drug laws in the 1970s and 1980s. The time has come to admit failure and change direction.
Earlier this month, the State Assembly passed a bill essentially repealing the Rockefeller laws, and Gov. David Patterson (above left), who was once arrested for protests the laws, has proposed a compromise bill to bring Senate Republicans into the fold. His deal, however, may not go far enough.
Via Gothamist:
Last week the State Assembly passed a bill repealing the laws; Paterson's compromise will reportedly differ in the following ways:
* Paterson's bill won't be retroactive. Nearly 2,000 prisoners who might have been eligible for resentencing under the Assembly’s bill would remain in prison. The Governor's office says the cost of processing such a high volume of resentencing petitions in court would be too high.
* Also because of cost, Paterson’s plan would not mandate treatment for drug offenders in prison, nor help drug offenders after being released with so-called re-entry programs.
* The bill would also give judges the discretion to send offenders to treatment instead of prison, but require offenders to plead guilty before entering a rehabilitation program.
Last week, Russell Simmons and Drug Policy Alliance Policy Director Gabriel Sayegh wrote here on change.org that the Rockefeller Laws may finally be on their way out. There's a great conversation continuing in the comments of that post.
And in the media this week, we've heard from all sides that it's time to repeal the Rockefeller Laws. NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wrote about the failure of the laws:
By now it should be beyond debate that these laws have failed. One serious consequence: massive racial disparity in sentencing. According to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, the rate of drug use in America is generally 8.2% for whites, 7.2% for Latinos and 8.7% for African-Americans. Yet the Rockefeller laws have filled New York's prisons with tens of thousands of drug offenders, 90% of whom are African-American or Latino.
The laws have also failed to curb drug abuse. According to statistics from the National Survey on Drug Abuse conducted by the Health and Human Services Department, illicit drug use among New Yorkers has not abated since the passage of the drug laws in 1973.
And Families Against Mandatory Minimums President Julie Stewart wrote that voting for sentencing reform shouldn't be a no-no for policymakers:
Most sentencing reform efforts fail because legislators get sucked into the fear of being seen as soft on crime if they vote for change. In fact, voting for mandatory minimum reform is not the apocalyptic, career-ending event many legislators think it will be.
Finally, the NY Civil Liberties Union released a report outlining in no uncertain terms the failure of mandatory minimums and harsh drug laws in New York.
“The Rockefeller Drug Laws have failed by every measure. They tear apart families, waste tax dollars and create shocking racial disparities,” said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU executive director. “Yet, after 36 years of failure, our state continues locking up the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Justice and common sense require comprehensive reform.”
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Comments (10)
Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.
Author
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Matt has worked and volunteered in various capacities in criminal justice reform for several years. When he's not blogging, he works as the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project. Views expressed here are Matt's, and don't represent the positions of the Innocence Project.
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Hey Matt! thanks so much for reporting so thoroughly on this issue. Reforming these cruel laws is incredibly important, as the numbers of lives affected by long prison sentences is really tragic.
I wanted to add that folks who live in New York state can easily send a message to their legislators in support of reform here: https://secure2.convio.net/dpa/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=304
The more people that speak out, the better chance we have of making sure folks who shouldn't be there stay out of jail and prison.
Posted by Jeanette Irwin on 03/19/2009 @ 09:33AM PT
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Thanks for the Good news!
Posted by meshaq om on 03/19/2009 @ 10:34AM PT
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Power to the people
Posted by mitch miranda on 03/19/2009 @ 12:55PM PT
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This is good news. However, it should definitely be retroactive. The injustice and expense of housing non-violent people for decades needs to be corrected. The war-on-drugs laws are ridiculous. Most rational people know it. It's time for reform, but there is an urgent need to be thorough and release those who were most impacted. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta
Posted by Rev Bookburn on 03/19/2009 @ 01:42PM PT
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" Paterson's bill won't be retroactive. Nearly 2,000 prisoners who might have been eligible for resentencing under the Assembly’s bill would remain in prison. The Governor's office says the cost of processing such a high volume of resentencing petitions in court would be too high"
....So, and make it retroactive to 1980....lets take a vote on it!
"Also because of cost, Paterson’s plan would not mandate treatment for drug offenders in prison, nor help drug offenders after being released with so-called re-entry programs
...This is criminal; legalize, tax and mandate treatment if a crime is committed while high (on anything)!
" The bill would also give judges the discretion to send offenders to treatment instead of prison, but require offenders to plead guilty before entering a rehabilitation program."
....why would you plead quilty to something that isn't illegal? And, of course they have no idea where the funding will come from for the treatment! STUPID.
Posted by C T on 03/19/2009 @ 02:06PM PT
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The changes proposed are good in terms of reforming mandatory sentences, however by not providing treatment and most importantly helping inmates re-enter society we are still perpetuating the current problem of around a 75 percent recividism rate. The costs incurred by the revolving doors of the current prison system in NYS are far greater in the long run. I am a Mental Health professional working in a NYS prison and in my opinion the lack of resources available to inmates to re-enter society is not only a major social injustice, it also increases the crime rate because the more desperate you get in terms of survival the more likely you are to commit a crime.
Posted by James Allison on 03/19/2009 @ 02:43PM PT
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This is lone over do.
Posted by Ali Canada on 03/19/2009 @ 04:39PM PT
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Resentencing petitions is alot cheaper than the $40,000 it costs to house a inmate under 60 years old, it increases due to medical conditions after 60 years old per year. In federal prison Rehabilitation and Drug Programs would be much cheaper. It is time to stop these injustices and make all of the drug reform bills retroactive and save the taxpayers billions of dollars per year to boost our economy especially for the first time non-violent offenders!
Sherilyn Yeley
Sherri Yeley
Posted by Sherilyn Yeley on 03/26/2009 @ 09:56AM PT
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you should consider letting those who truly have a problem with drug use and have been incarcerated out of prison, the label felon should be removed and they should be in treatment. we don't label alcoholics felons unless they commit a crime while intoxicated. why should drug addicts be labeled as felons. we need to reform in more ways than one. it is hard enough to find a job and even harder for a felon, i think the system is geared for failure the way things are now.
Posted by Patsy Bigatta on 04/06/2009 @ 06:02PM PT
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Thank God this reform finally happened! The only issue I can see is not including the people that are currently incarcerated. I'm sure this will cause great debate in the near future.
Can anyone direct me to a location on the web with detailed sentencing information under the new laws?
Thanks!
Posted by Donna James on 04/08/2009 @ 01:01PM PT
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