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WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By District 89 Assemblyman Adam T. Bradley. June 7, 2003:New York’s fight against illegal drugs is far from over. Despite our best efforts, drug addiction and drug-related crimes continue to plague our communities. Unfortunately, our approach to combating drugs has not changed much in decades. New York’s antiquated Rockefeller drug laws fail to address the underlying problem of addiction.
Since their enactment in 1973, the Rockefeller drug laws have become infamous for their severe and inflexible mandatory minimum sentences. The law has been criticized as being unnecessarily harsh and counterproductive. Its mandatory sentencing has often led first-time nonviolent drug offenders to receive prison terms longer than murderers and rapists.
In an effort to make the law more effective, the Assembly passed a plan to reform New York’s antiquated Rockefeller drug laws, allowing judges to sentence some non-violent, lower-level offenders to mandatory drug treatment programs as a potential alternative to prison. The plan is expected to save New York $164 million annually, alleviating crowded prisons while cracking down on violent offenders and treating the causes of drug-related crime.
After 30 years, it’s time to acknowledge that mandatory prison sentences do not cure drug addiction. And in terms of reducing crime, research shows that treatment is a much more effective and less costly alternative to incarceration. This measure frees the court to decide the most appropriate sentence – to make the punishment fit the crime.
A 1997 Rand Corporation study that found drug treatment was 15 times more effective than mandatory sentencing in reducing serious crimes committed against people and property by drug offenders. Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman has estimated that graduates of the drug court diversion program operated by the court system commit two-thirds fewer crimes than drug offenders who are simply incarcerated for a period of time.
The Assembly bill (A.7078) would:
• Give judges and prosecutors discretion in recommending drug treatment as a potential alternative to prison;
• Create a new drug-related Class B-II felony for certain lower level sale or possession cases involving relatively small amounts of narcotics; and
• Give judges more flexibility in sentencing individuals on Class B and lower felonies.
New York has achieved great success in reducing crime – especially violent crime – in recent years. We can build on this success by working to eliminate the problem of substance abuse, which lies at the core of most criminal behavior.
Treating the causes of crime
Under these drug law reforms, prosecutors will have the ability to recommend and judges may order certain drug offenders, whose non-violent crimes resulted from drug abuse, to treatment programs as an alternative to a mandatory state prison term.
The plan allows prosecutors to first review whether or not a non-violent drug offender should be diverted from prison to drug treatment. A judge would then make the final determination on whether an offender is placed in mandatory drug treatment as a potential alternative to prison.
Combating drug-related gun violence
Recognizing the deadly connection between the drug trade and firearms, the new legislation imposes a mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of possessing a loaded handgun with the intent to use it while selling or attempting to sell drugs. The plan also retains life sentences for drug kingpins who engage in major drug trafficking.
I am confident that reforming the Rockefeller drug laws is a more effective approach to fighting drugs in New York, and urge the Senate and the governor to join the Assembly in the long-overdue effort to reform these harsh and draconian laws. These laws have ruined lives and failed to solve the drug epidemic facing our communities.
