SMALL STEP ON REFORM

The Legislature Makes Another Effort To Ease The Rockefeller Drug Laws

With the rush by state lawmakers to leave Albany last week, there was
a real danger that Rockefeller Drug Law reform would get lost in the
shuffle. There is a long and depressing tradition in the Legislature
for lawmakers to forget about an issue the following year if they
have addressed it the year before. And last year, the lawmakers were
congratulating themselves on passing the first major reforms since
the draconian drug laws were adopted in 1973.

But as welcome as those reforms were, they were only the first step,
and the lawmakers knew it. The reforms eliminated life sentences for
the highest level drug crimes, known as Class A1 and A2, and allowed
A1 offenders to retroactively appeal for resentencing. The effect was
that several hundred A1 offenders were able to walk free. But A2
offenders were not given a chance to appeal and faced the grim
prospect of having to serve many more years behind bars.

Last week, however, the Republican-led Senate and Democrat-led
Assembly reached a last-minute agreement to give nonviolent A2
offenders a chance to appeal for resentencing. Before they can do so,
however, they must be within 36 months of their first opportunity for
parole. Some 500 inmates currently meet these criteria, according to
the state Department of Correctional Services.

Regrettably, Gov. Pataki does not seem to share the same enthusiasm
as the Legislature, saying he has "some concerns" about the
agreement. But Mr. Pataki knows better. He has made it a practice of
extending holiday clemencies to prisoners who were facing long
sentences under the inflexible Rockefeller statutes. In more than a
few cases, the inmates were first-time nonviolent offenders. How,
then, can Mr. Pataki see the need for clemency in these cases but be
troubled by a reform that would address similar cases on a broader scale?

Just as regrettable was the reaction of Sen. Thomas Duane,
D-Manhattan, a staunch supporter of reform but who voted against the
A2 accord last week. The agreement, he said at the time, was "so
minimal, so timid compared to what we should be doing in this
Legislature to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws." He's right about
what should be done -- sweeping reform that would restore sentencing
discretion to judges -- but wrong not to support a small step in that
direction.

Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, no less a supporter of reform,
has it right when he says, "Everything with Rockefeller Drug Law
reform is hard." Which is why this year's accord, minor though it
was, deserves applause.