SURVEY FINDS BROAD SUPPORT FOR DRUG-LAW REFORM

The Committee for Modern Courts agrees with Ann Brandon (letter, Aug. 1) --
it is time to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Last fall, during the 2000
election for the state Legislature, the Committee for Modern Courts
conducted a survey of Democratic and Republican candidates' attitudes toward
New York judicial reforms.

Our survey revealed remarkable support across parties and across the Senate
and the Assembly for a number of critical reforms. Sixty-seven percent of
the respondents believed that the Rockefeller Drug Laws have not served to
deter drug crime. Eighty percent favored giving judges discretion over the
excessive mandatory Rockefeller Drug Law sentences -- sentences that are
being served by thousands of nonviolent offenders and are doing little to
deter crime.

The functioning of New York's judicial branch of government and the
administration of justice for all New Yorkers continues to suffer. The
Committee for Modern Courts urges the Times Union to exhort legislators to
reconvene and pass legislation for much-needed drug law reform.