Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jun 2002
Source: Daily Gazette (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The Gazette Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailygazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/105

PASS PATAKI DRUG LAW

Reform of the so-called Rockefeller drug laws is one of those political 
issues that seems never to go away in New York state. Even though more or 
less everybody is in favor of some kind of reform, it never (so far) comes 
to pass.

Even the New York State District Attorneys Association is in favor of 
reforming the law to give judges more discretion in sentencing A1 drug 
felons, who now get 15 years to life. In rare cases, low-level "mules" 
might end up being sentenced to such a term, which almost everyone agrees 
would be excessive. The Association also calls for "statewide availability 
of drug treatment" as a potential alternative to incarceration.

However, as the Association points out, some proponents of reform have 
greatly exaggerated the harshness of the Rockefeller laws. And radically 
reforming them, as the Assembly bill would do, would reduce DAs' leverage 
against both drug dealers and violent criminals, making it harder to 
convict them.

While the Association is not prepared to endorse the reforms proposed by 
Gov. George Pataki and passed by the Senate, saying they go too far, it 
greatly prefers them to the Assembly bill. Schenectady County District 
Attorney Bob Carney, a Democrat who is former president of the statewide 
Association, says the judicial discretion provisions of the Pataki bill 
might not have as much impact upstate as in New York City, where judges 
tend to be more liberal.

The Assembly should settle for something rather than nothing, and pass the 
Senate bill.
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MAP posted-by: Beth