Pubdate: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ) Copyright: 2010 Newark Morning Ledger Co Contact: http://www.nj.com/starledger/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424 Cited: Families Against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) MANDATORY TERMS FOR DRUG SALES NEAR SCHOOLS SET TO END People busted for some drug offenses near schools should no longer face mandatory prison sentences, lawmakers decided yesterday. Assembly members voted 46-30 to send the bill (A2762) to the governor's desk for final approval. The state has imposed mandatory prison terms of one to three years for people caught dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school since 1987. "The mandatory minimum sentencing the zones require has effectively created two different sentences for the same crime, depending on where an individual lives," Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) said. "This is geographic discrimination at its most basic." Supporters of the bill say those sentences have unnecessarily stuffed New Jersey prisons with nonviolent offenders who deserve probation or access to treatment programs. Almost 70 percent of the 6,720 drug offenders serving time in state prisons have mandatory minimum sentences, according to the Department of Corrections. Most of the bill's opponents were Republicans. "The drug dealers know where the school zones are," Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Union) said. "Once you take the consequences away, you open up more fertile ground for selling drugs." The bill passed yesterday would allow judges to reduce the required minimum sentence or impose probation, depending on whether the offense occurred when school was in session, its proximity to school grounds, and if children were present. Sentences could not be reduced if the offense took place on school grounds or if it involved violence or a gun. In addition, the bill will allow current inmates to appeal the mandatory minimum sentences they've already received. The bill passed 24-11 in the Senate on Dec. 10, then returned to the Assembly for final approval yesterday. In the last decade, more than a dozen states have rolled back mandatory drug sentences, according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake