Pubdate: Wed, 04 Apr 2001
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 2001 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesunion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Author: Elizabeth Benjamin, Capitol Bureau

DAs WARY OF DRUG LAW REFORM

Albany -- Prosecutors say lower crime rate would suffer if sentences were 
to be reduced

The drop in New York's violent crime rate could be reversed if prosecutors 
lose their ability to lock up drug offenders under the Rockefeller Drug 
Laws' long mandatory sentences, members of the state District Attorneys 
Association said Tuesday.

Linking "vigorous enforcement of the drug laws'' to the drop in violent 
crime, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told the 
Senate Codes Committee, "it would be a serious mistake to take away from 
law enforcement the tools to make the streets safer.''

The association opposes reducing the maximum sentences required for those 
convicted of the most serious, or Class A, offenses for possession or sale 
of several ounces of drugs. However, it supports reducing sentences on 
appeal when offenders can prove they are not violent or drug kingpins.

Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney, the association's 
president, challenged drug law reform advocates' claim that New York's 
prisons are filled with nonviolent drug addicts. Eighty-seven percent of 
drug offenders in prison are there for selling drugs or possession with the 
intent to sell, Carney said, and 77 percent are second-time felony offenders.

Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, was unconvinced by the district 
attorneys' claims. He pointed out that crime has fallen nationwide, even in 
states without mandatory drug sentencing laws.

"I do not see that there is much more than superstition at work here,'' he 
said.

Drug law reform advocates charged that prosecutors are really concerned 
about losing any power to judges.

"Nothing about Rockefeller reform would change the ability of police to 
arrest, nothing prevents prosecutors from sending drug lords to prison,'' 
said Jonathan Gradess, executive director of the New York State Defenders 
Association.

Gov. George Pataki proposes to return some sentencing discretion to judges, 
allowing them to send C, D and E-Class low-level, nonviolent offenders to 
drug treatment instead of prison. The Democratic Assembly majority wants to 
include Class B offenders.

All sides seem to agree that more low-level drug offenders should get 
treatment rather than prison. But they differ widely on who would decide 
which offenders are eligible for treatment and how to pay for it.

Carney said district attorneys support expanding drug treatment programs in 
lieu of prison, but only if they have a say in who goes where and there is 
a threat of prison if offenders don't finish treatment. They have endorsed 
a plan by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, to add $20 
million to the 2001-02 budget to expand prison and community treatment 
programs.

Assembly Democrats propose spending more than $66 million on new and 
existing community treatment programs. Pataki's budget includes no 
additional treatment funds.

Treatment providers told the Assembly Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee 
Tuesday that their programs are already stretched to the limit.
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