Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jan 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Section: Opinion: Letter to the Editor
Author: Deborah Kaplan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

WOMEN AND DRUG LAWS

To the Editor:

Re "Signs of a Thaw in the War on Drugs" (news article, Jan. 21) and 
"Overhauling New York's Drug Laws" (editorial, Jan. 21):

Incarcerated women in New York are far more likely than their male 
counterparts to be drug offenders. Approximately two-thirds of all women in 
the state's penal institutions were committed for a drug offense. Women in 
prison are often first-time offenders, but under the Rockefeller drug laws 
they are separated from their families and given 15 years to life based 
solely on the actual weight of illegal substances. Judges are denied 
discretion to consider a defendant's background, lack of criminal record or 
actual role in drug transactions.

We endorse the plan of Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and Deputy Chief 
Administrative Judge Joseph J. Traficanti Jr. to institute the nation's 
first statewide initiative offering court-supervised drug treatment to all 
nonviolent offenders, respondents in our family courts and juveniles.

DEBORAH KAPLAN

President, Women's Bar Association

of the State of New York

New York, Jan. 22, 2001
- ---
MAP posted-by: GD