ROCKY DRUG LAWS STILL LACK REFORM

But a State Senator Is Trying to Get Albany Moving on It.

It's tough to find anyone talking about reforming the Rockefeller drug laws
in Albany these days and it's hard to imagine why. After all, it's not as
if legislators are busy working on other important matters, like passing a
state budget. One exception to this governmental sleepwalk on the drug laws
is state Sen. David A. Paterson, a Democrat from Manhattan. Paterson is not
only talking about reforming the much-criticized overly harsh laws, he is
holding public hearings so other people can talk about it. He's also
conducted a nationwide survey on sentencing provisions in other states on
drug convictions and he's offered a plan that seeks to build on other
reform plans that have languished in the Legislature. For this, Paterson
deserves, at a minimum, the thanks, well wishes and cooperation of other
legislators as well as the governor, all of whom have talked of reform in
the past, but most of whom seem to have gone silent in the face of
opposition from the state's district attorneys. Would that the prosecutors'
opposition to the laws, which feature lengthy mandatory sentences for minor
drug convictions, was selfless and in the interests of justice.

It's not. It's about retaining the virtually absolute power the outdated
laws give them in dealing with people accused of drug crimes.

Faced with mandatory lengthy sentences by the laws, which deprive judges of
any discretion in sentencing, many defendants are all too willing to offer
guilty pleas to other crimes which carry lesser prison time. This system
often leaves no room for drug treatment as an alternative to sentencing and
lets district attorneys act as judge and jury as well as prosecutor and
even defense attorney. Some DAs have found reasonable ways to work around
this imbalance; others like it just fine. But it remains an unfair and
costly distortion of the justice system. Paterson surveyed nearly 100
prosecutors, public defenders, attorneys general and other lawyers on their
states' sentencing options for low-level drug-sellers with a prior
conviction on a non-violent felony. He says the results show that New
York's is by far the harshest sentencing option in the nation.

It is the only one that carries a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence, as
compared to 44 states that allow some form of probation and five that carry
shorter sentences. The Rockefeller laws, passed in the 1960s, have resulted
in thousands of people serving long terms in state prisons for
comparatively minor drug offenses instead of, for example, being enrolled
in far cheaper drug treatment programs.

The presence of low-level drug offenders serving unusually lengthy terms -
Paterson says about 6,000 are currently serving terms of four years or more
- - has put added strain on a prison system that has at times been bursting
at the seams. Paterson wants to further reduce the sentencing provisions
previously suggested by Gov. George Pataki and other legislators. Paterson
also proposes creating a statewide Offender Re-entry Program, which would
allow judges - the forgotten people in the current sentencing system - to
order a re-entry plan for drug offenders that follows them through prison
and back into the community, with the dual goals of protecting the
community and rehabilitating the offender. His plan still contains
determinate sentencing, although with reduced terms. And Paterson says
providing a specific date for an offender's re-entry allows communities to
be better prepared for it. We're not sure about that, but it certainly is
worth discussing, along with getting rid of the lengthy mandatory sentences
and giving judges, not DAs, control of the judicial process on drug offenders.

Anyone else in Albany who wants to join in this effort is more than welcome.