Pubdate: Wed, 03 Apr 2002
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452

DRUG LAWS ON TRIAL

Charges Against A Brooklyn Teen Show The Trap Within The Rockefeller Statutes

In one sense, a Brooklyn teenager faces trial on felony drug charges in 
Albany County Family Court. In another sense, though, the draconian 
Rockefeller Drug Laws will be on trial. It should provide further evidence 
- -- if more is needed -- that reform can't some soon enough.

Whether the Brooklyn teen should even stand trial is open to question. The 
police don't think so. He has a below-average IQ and appears 
developmentally disabled. Albany County sheriff's investigators said he 
appeared confused and disoriented early last month when they arrested him 
on charges of carrying 60 packets of heroin concealed in his knapsack. They 
suspected then, as now, that he had been recruited by downstate drug 
dealers seeking to avoid arrest by using him as a "mule."

But now a psychiatrist's report has found the teen mentally competent to 
stand trial on felony drug charges. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 
a juvenile facility until he turns 18. The prospect of such a sentence 
lends credence to the police theory that the youth was a recruit. The 
runners, known as "mules," help dealers avoid arrest and conviction under 
the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which carry mandatory 15-years-to-life terms, 
with no room for discretion by the sentencing judge. The typical mule is an 
addict who is desperate to earn the going fee of $300, or a youngster who, 
if caught, will be tried as a juvenile.

When they were passed in 1973, the Rockefeller laws were hailed as a way to 
rid New York state of drug crimes and the street violence that frequently 
accompanies it. But that never happened, largely because the dealers turned 
to low-level runners to suffer the consequences of conviction.

As a result, the state's jail population has soared over the years as more 
and more low-level drug criminals, many of them first-time nonviolent 
offenders, are sent away for long prison terms. The mandatory sentences, 
with no chance for a judge to tailor the punishment to fit the 
circumstances of the crime, are cruel enough. But perversely, the 
Rockefeller Drug Laws have had the effect of victimizing the desperate by 
turning them into easy prey for the drug criminals who should have been 
behind bars long ago.

A law so flawed cannot be justified. It's time, past time, for reform.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens