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The State Assembly is expected to vote today to repeal the mandatory sentencing laws known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws; passed in 1973, the laws require judges to sentence even minor drug offenders to extremely long prison terms. According to the Times, the Assembly’s proposal would restore judges’ discretion in sentencing lower-level drug possession crimes, enabling them to send some offenders to treatment programs instead of prison. The measure would also permit about 2,000 prisoners to apply to have their sentences reconsidered. A growing coalition has long called for the laws' repeal, but only now, with the Senate in Democratic hands for the first time since 1965, is repeal within reach. Senate Democrats are expected to debate the issue tonight, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver tells the Times, "I think the stars are aligned." In a statement, the NYCLU praised the bill as an "essential first step," but criticized it for still permitting (though not requiring) "unreasonably harsh maximum sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenses."
State Assembly Set to Repeal Rockefeller Drug Laws
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It's the same media that NEVER mentioned Muslims' hatred of Israel as a possible motive for 9/11.
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I really hope that they don't repeal the sentencing laws. We already know that drugs will bring a city to its knees, especially when the economy tanks.
really? i really hope you are being sarcastic but somehow I doubt it
Sure. For something like weed it's ridiculous.
But what about cocaine and heroine? What about all of the kids who have parents not taking care of them because they're high all of the time? Or the idiots that get high and run people down with their SUVs? In some cases people really do derseve to get a harsh sentence.
Obviously, I should have been more specific about my concerns. But, already I can see that suggesting any differnce of opinion on this string means major back lash from commenters.
You are right, some offenders should be sentenced harshly. Sentencing should always be made in proportion to the severity of the crime, not mandated by a law which sets out mandatory sentences without consideration for individual cases. Judges should come up with sentencing, not a blind law. That's their jobs, and that's the only way to ensure JUSTICE. You don't seem to really know what it is you're talking about, and that is a real problem.
Actually, I'm married to a lawyer. He does a lot of por bono cases involving children. Unfortuantately, the effects of even small ammounts of drugs in home with children residing in them make a very unsafe environment for them and the parents, as many of them are visited by some pretty sketchy characters.
All I am saying is that you must consider all angles of this decision. It does not just affect the handful of small time pot smokers that, I agree, are unfairly punished.
pro bono...typo
Mandatory sentencing is unjust, no matter what the situation is, period. Judges are paid to evaluate cases and determine the proper sentence and we elect them to their positions based on their experience, that's their jobs, that's how our system of justice works. These laws tie their hands and the result is that many people are sent to jail disproportionately to the crimes they committed. Your arguments about kids etc blah blah blah are pretty much meaningless.
How are children meaningless?
SP said the argument was meaningless, and it is.
Removing mandatory sentencing does not remove tough sentencing.
Sorry to jump in so late but: what about the children who are without a mother for 25 years because she was caught with a small bag of weed? I worked for an organization that helped formally incarcerated women, we had a lot of women who's mothers were or still are behind bars due to these laws, a lot of their issues started when their mother got locked up.
I sooooo have the last godamn word! (joke!)
fantastic news and about damn time
Thank god, this thing has been around for much too long.
"We already know that drugs will bring a city to its knees, especially when the economy tanks."
More likely what would bring both cities and the state to their knees would be the expense of housing and feeding thousands of small time drug users in prisons for decades.
"feeding thousands of small time drug users in prisons for decades."
Uhm, and what exactly do you think we are doing right now? We already are housing and feeding them, in state prisons, for much longer sentences than are reasonable or ethical. Repealing these laws would get lots of these poeple OUT of prison and keep future "offenders" out. It's absurd to be sent to jail for years for possession of weed, for example.
Better yet would be outright legalization of marijuana. Talk about a missed opportunity to not only save money wasted on enforcing, prosecuting and jailing non-violent offenders dealing in a substance exponentially less hazardous than alcohol, but also not making BILLIONS by TAXING the revenue on the NUMBER ONE CASH CROP in the US. Sheer stupidity and tragic injustice.
"Uhm, and what exactly do you think we are doing right now?"
Uhm, I think that is exactly what we are doing right now, which is exactly what I said. If you think I was arguing in favor of these laws, I'd request that re-read both my comment and the one I was responding to.
My bad. No offense but I responded that way because I found your response unclear.
I can't decide if you found jaycjay's response unclear because you were high or if you're going blind from glaucoma, in which case you need to smoke some medical marijuana!
Man I feel so clever.
I wish I was high right now!!!
I agree. And others do too. It would be the smartest thing we could do.
I was just reading: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/02/20/notes022009.DTL
Right.
Among the many nefarious reasons for the drug war is the fact that our economic system depends on it. Our system of capitalism naturally produces an underclass - employment can't be at 100% for it to work.
So, hopeless young men w/no job prospects do what most would do in that situation - sell drugs. This of course supports the prison industry. If "drugs" were legal, what would we do w/millions of unemployable people?
It's just easier to lock them up.
I was going to respond, but then I got high,
I was was going to say smart stuff, but then I got high,
Now I'm going to just sit here and I know why,
WHY?
Because I got high,
Because i got high,
Because I got high
La de dah dah dah....
Hahaha, a rather ridiculous blip on top40 radio's history.
It is about time. It's been far too long.
Its all good until these "low-level" offenders are mugging you or breaking into your car or stealing your bicycle to support their habit.
Then they're not low-level offenders anymore, are they?
Most people hauled in for drug charges are non-violent and they're getting busted for possession. These are kids caught with a few joints.
And as we've seen prison is oh so effective in getting people clean, sober, and not screwed up in the head.
Finally! I've been wanting to open a "coffee shop" here like they have a Amsterdam for years! I hope I can in my lifetime. Legalizing marijuana will mellow this town out!
I'm too baked to care about these laws one way or the other.