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