Pubdate: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 Source: Times Union (Albany, NY) Copyright: 2004 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws) A PLEA FOR JUSTICE Two More Voices Add to the Chorus of Those Seeking Drug Law Reform Year in and year out, the state's district attorneys have stood in the way of reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws, even as the ranks of those who favor change continue to swell. Everyone from Gov. George Pataki to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, believes the time is overdue to rewrite these draconian statutes, which have failed in their stated purpose of stamping out drug crime in New York. Through it all, though, the state's prosecutors have thwarted progress. While they have advanced what they term a reform proposal of their own, it is reform around the edges only. The prosecutors want the harsher aspects of these statutes to remain at their disposal so they can more easily extract plea bargains from drug crime suspects. But now come more pleas for reform -- pleas the prosecutors should find hard to ignore. One is no less an organization than the American Bar Association. The other is no less a figure than U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered a conservative on law-and-order issues. Last week, the ABA released a study on mandatory minimum sentences that it had undertaken at the suggestion of Justice Kennedy. The report's findings were devastating: Mandatory minimum sentences leave no room for judges to distinguish between criminals, crimes or the circumstances leading up to each offense. That is especially the case when drug crimes are involved. Moreover, while mandatory sentences keep inmates behind bars for longer periods, the report found no evidence that the nation is safer as a result. The report underscores what Justice Kennedy has been saying about mandatory minimum sentences for a long time -- namely, that they give prosecutors too much power and judges too little discretion. Of course, the problem with the Rockefeller Drug Laws is not mandatory minimum sentences but mandatory maximum ones -- up to life in prison for the sale or possession of small quantities of controlled substances. And far too often, those who sentenced under the Rockefeller drug laws turn out to be first-time, nonviolent offenders. So the principle remains the same whether one is considering the ABA report or the Rockefeller drug laws: Rigid sentencing guidelines do not enhance justice as much as they deny it. "The political phrase 'tough on crime' should not lead us into moral blindness," says Justice Kennedy. Come next month, the ABA will vote on whether to adopt the report's recommendations as the official position of the organization. If that happens, then state prosecutors ought to start looking into their mirrors. If their colleagues in the legal profession can recognize injustice when they see it, why can't they? - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake