DRUG-LAW REFORM GAINS STEAM

State Legislation From The Rockefeller Era Is Among The Strictest In The Nation.

ALBANY - Numerous proposals to change New York's strict Rockefeller-era drug
laws are floating around the State Capitol, leading advocates and
legislators to believe such reform could happen this year.

The proposals range from tinkering to full-scale overhauls and they come
from liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, and even the state's top
judge.

"This is the most serious activity on this issue ever, since the laws were
passed 26 years ago," said Robert Gangi of the Correctional Association, a
prisoner-rights group that has been advocating broad changes. "It means
there's a greater possibility that something will happen this year than ever
before. Of course, it's also possible that nothing will happen."

The state's drug laws, adopted in 1974 under the late Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller, are among the nation's strictest. For example, someone selling
more than 2 ounces of a narcotic or possessing more than 4 ounces could be
sentenced to 15-years-to-life.

Critics have blamed the drug laws for the state's burgeoning prison
population, now about 70,000. About 22,000 of those are drug offenders.

Even one of the original Senate sponsors of the drug laws has said it's time
to realize the measures haven't reduced drug use or crime.

"They've proven to be a failure. They've been ineffective and unfair and an
extra burden for the taxpayers," said former Sen. John Dunne, a Nassau
County Republican who chaired the Judiciary Committee in the early 1970's.
"They are no longer relevant or helping the community."

Dunne said legislators thought then "heavy draconian penalties would drive
the sellers off the streets."

"But for every one you get off the street, three are there to volunteer to
take his place," Dunne said. He added that drug-treatment programs and
alternative-sentencing plans are much more sophisticated and effective now.

Dunne was one of several panelists at a forum last week discussing proposals
to revamp the drug laws.

Here's a synopsis of the sponsors and ideas:

* Assembly Corrections Committee Chairman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens: End
mandatory-minimum sentences by giving trial judges discretion on sentences,
allow convicts already in jail to have their sentences reduced and expand
drug-treatment programs.

This plan is considered the most far-ranging.

* Dunne and the bipartisan Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice: Similar
to Aubry's proposal. While not ending mandatory-minimums, it would double
the amount of drugs required to constitute each grade of crime.

It also calls for allowing judges to defer up to two years of a sentence if
the offender enters drug treatment.

* Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse: Doubles the amount of drugs required to
constitute the most serious felonies.

* Chief Judge Judith Kaye: Would allow those convicted of the most serious
felonies to reduce their sentences from 15 years to life to five years to
life, if an Appellate Division judge agrees. Would allow low-level
offenders to enter drug treatment instead of prison, if a local district
attorney agrees.

* Gov. George Pataki: Similar to Kaye's proposal but would allow a reduction
to only 10 years to life. Wants to trade any change in the drug laws for
severely limiting parole for all nonviolent offenders.

DeFrancisco, both a former prosecutor and a former defense lawyer, said
trial judges must be given some sentencing flexibility.

"All the options, now, are in the district attorney's office," said
DeFrancisco, referring to current laws that allow someone to enter drug
treatment instead of jail only if a prosecutor agrees.

"That, I don't believe is a fair process," he said. "And allowing appeals
to only Appellate Division judges... that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Sentencing judges (at the county or city level) are paid to do their jobs.
Let's let them."

DeFrancisco said his proposal calls for only small changes, but he's
offering it as a starting point. He's willing to consider many of Aubry's
suggestions.

Advocates say the key is getting Pataki to talk with Senate and Assembly
leaders about the laws. But with the state budget talks simultaneously
stalled and prohibiting action on other topics, no one's sure when that will
happen.

Meanwhile, many are awaiting a report on the drug laws due later this month
from the conservative Manhattan Institute. Scholars from the think tank are
criticizing the use of mandatory sentences in drug cases.

Advocates, like Gangi, said the report could give Pataki and other
conservatives the philosophical and statistical backing needed to support
broad changes.