Results tagged “rockefellerdruglaws”

Today is the day that the hard-fought changes to the Rockefeller-era Drug Laws go into effect, and lawyers for hundreds of low-level drug offenders in New York prisons are preparing petitions for shortened sentences or release. Once among the harshest in the nation, the laws were enacted more than 30 years ago under Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and required mandatory prison terms for a variety of drug crimes.

You know, if those "loony" liberals succeed in repealing the Rockefeller-era drug laws, New York State's going to become a crime-infested hellhole, where "crackheads, dopers and drug gangs will rule the streets." At least that's how the Daily News sees it in today's editorial, a demagogic rant that's almost surely plagiarized from an Archie Bunker monologue. In the editorial board's eyes, the deal reached by Paterson and state lawmakers to let judges send first-time drug offenders to treatment instead of prison amounts to a "Drug Dealer Protection Act" that "all but decriminalizes the possession and sale of narcotics in New York State." Yeah, what's next Paterson, the Helping Homicidal Robots Bill?

State Senate Republicans are voicing outrage today following Governor Paterson's morning press conference announcing an agreement among Democrats to repeal most of the Rockefeller-era drug laws. Republican State Senator Martin Golden, whose district stretches from Bay Ridge to Gerritsen Beach, tells the Times Union the reform will "coddle the criminals and put them back on the streets." Others derided the repeal's treatment programs as a "Get out of Jail Free Card." And Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos is threatening to keep his members out of the chamber unless Republicans get "a sufficient amount of time" to study the bill.

Governor Paterson's office says negotiations with state lawmakers on a bill to reform the Rockefeller-era drug laws are "nearing a successful completion and reflect the governor's core principle to focus on treatment rather than punishment." Yesterday's progress came on the same day that hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Paterson's midtown office to demand the laws' full repeal. Drug law reform has been on Paterson's agenda for many years; as a State Senator in 2002 he was arrested outside the very same building, during a protest when Pataki was governor.

As part of a push to repeal the mandatory sentencing laws known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Governor Paterson will propose a compromise bill intended to woo State Senate Republicans, who largely represent rural areas upstate where prisons are major sources of jobs. According to the Times, the bill, which is still being drafted, will be proposed as part of the package of budget bills that lawmakers must approve by April 1st, and will call for spending roughly $50 million to finance treatment programs and additional drug courts.

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."

A state commission has recommended revising New York's drug laws to favor rehab for low-level offenders and give judges more discretion in sentencing convicts, but many lawmakers say the commission's report falls short. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called it a "missed opportunity" in a letter to commission Chairwoman Denise O’Donnell:

The Commission held in its hands a unique opportunity to help undo thirty-five years of failed drug policy and set New York on the path to establishing a more just, more humane and more effective approach to combat drug crime and drug abuse. I am saddened that it failed to do so.

Continue reading "Rockefeller Drug Law Reform Report Too Weak for Shelly"