LAWMAKERS LAUNCH EFFORT TO REDUCE MANDATORY PRISON TERMS

With the state spending more than $331 million a year to incarcerate
non-violent drug offenders whose criminal records make it nearly
impossible for them to get jobs, lawmakers and drug policy experts
announced a campaign today to reduce the state's reliance on mandatory
prison terms.

Action on the campaign will be swift, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan
(D-Union) predicted at a Statehouse press conference. Cryan said he
was confident the Legislature will pass a pending bill by the end of
June that will give judges flexibility to reduce the length of prison
terms of some future non-violent drug offenders.

To aid that effort, the Drug Policy Alliance, a national group
advocating the reform of what it sees as overzealous drug laws,
released a report today the authors say will help convince lawmakers
mandatory minimum sentences are both economically and morally harmful.

The report said it costs taxpayers $46,880 a year to incarcerate one
prisoner in New Jersey, where there are 28,000 inmates. One-third of
those serving time are there because they were convicted of drug
possession or low-level distribution.

"No one wants to appear to be soft on crime. I know that's the big
elephant in the room," Cryan said. "The time has come for us to change
the way we do things from a lock 'em up, throw away the key
philosophy. Let's understand that hasn't worked.

"We'll use this report as a blueprint for a new future that balances
cost with moral responsibility and public safety," Cryan said.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who also participated in the press
conference, said mandatory minimum prison terms exact a "heinous cost"
on the public.

"The current way we are going about the drug war is actually causing
more crime, it's actually causing more hardship," Booker said.