CLEMENCY AND UNJUST DRUG LAWS

During the past Christmas season, Gov. George Pataki granted clemency to
four state prison inmates who were first-time, nonviolent drug offenders
serving long mandatory sentences under the state's harsh drug laws, known
as the Rockefeller laws. Mr. Pataki's compassionate gesture is to be
applauded, but his real task is to push for reform of the misguided laws
that created the need for clemency in the first place.

All four inmates had been sentenced to either 15 or 20 years to life,
making their sentences longer than those typically imposed on violent
criminals. Three of the inmates were released last week, and a fourth will
be released this week.

Elaine Bartlett, one of the inmates, was a single mother of four young
children when she was convicted of selling four ounces of cocaine to a
police informant in 1984. It was her first brush with the law. She refused
to make a plea bargain, choosing instead to go to trial.

She was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years to life. Jan Warren, another
of the inmates, was sentenced in 1987 to 15 years to life for selling
cocaine in a sting operation.

It was her first and only sale.

Their stories are not unusual.

Although the laws enacted under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller were originally
aimed at major drug dealers, many of those who have received tough
mandatory sentences under them were small-time addicts, or girlfriends of
addicts, with no criminal records.

The laws have contributed to a fivefold increase in the state prison
population since 1973. They give judges no discretion to fit a sentence to
the circumstances, requiring instead that offenders be given long sentences
even in cases involving a small amount of narcotics.

The annual cost of incarcerating an inmate is about $32,000. That money
could be better spent on treatment and education that would give minor
offenders a chance to become productive citizens.

Mr. Pataki has expressed concern about the severity of the laws. But his
weak reform proposal last year to allow a very limited number of defendants
to appeal their sentences was not a meaningful change.

Commuting a handful of patently unjust sentences is not enough.

Democrats in the State Assembly and the Senate majority leader, Joseph
Bruno, have said they support giving judges more discretion in sentencing.
Mr. Pataki needs to take up the job of overhauling these irrational drug
laws that waste taxpayer money and destroy families left behind.