Pubdate: Tue, 06 Aug 2002 Source: Times Union (Albany, NY) Copyright: 2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452 Author: Elizabeth Benjamin CUOMO OFFERS DRUG LAW REFORMS Albany-- Plan Would Base Sentence On Role in Crime Rather Than On the Weight of Narcotics Involved Striving to separate himself from his opponents, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo on Monday unveiled a plan to reform the strict Rockefeller Drug Laws that goes farther in some areas than proposals by the governor and state Legislature. Cuomo, the former federal housing secretary, is the first challenger of Republican Gov. George Pataki to put out his own drug law reform plan -- although the outline he presented at a news conference in New York City was short on details. The heart of Cuomo's plan was a proposal to base sentencing of convicted drug offenders on the role they played in a crime rather than the weight of drugs they sold or possessed at the time of their arrest. The 1973 Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate long to life sentences for those convicted of selling or possessing relatively small amounts of narcotics. Cuomo said his plan would "restore rationality to our state's drug policies," and he criticized Pataki for failing to reach a compromise on reform with the Legislature. Opponents of Pataki's reform proposal say it doesn't return enough discretion to judges and won't help low-level offenders, the bulk of drug convicts. Pataki spokesman Michael McKeon said drug law negotiations between the governor and the Legislature are continuing. McKeon did not comment on Cuomo's plan. Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for Cuomo's Democratic opponent, state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, said McCall has long supported drug law reform but doesn't see the need to draw up his own plan. "If the governor wanted real reform, we could have it today; all the elements are there," Greenberg said. Cuomo called for the repeal of mandatory minimum sentences for all nonviolent, low-level drug offenders and an increase in penalties for offenders who commit violent crimes with a deadly weapon. He said sentencing discretion should be returned to judges and treatment should be offered instead of prison for nonviolent offenders "when appropriate." Cuomo did not offer details on how offenders would be determined nonviolent or who would decide which offenders should be sent to treatment rather than prison -- two central sticking points of the drug law reform debate. He called for a creation of a "fast track" commission to address these issues and establish sentencing guidelines. Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group, said Cuomo appeared to be "hedging his bets by not quite calling for a full repeal." But, Gangi said, Cuomo's plan is also "far more sweeping" than what has been proposed by Pataki and the Legislature. Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne, a Democrat, dismissed much of Cuomo's proposal, saying the role drug offenders played in the event that led to their arrest already is considered by judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys through the plea bargaining process. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens