Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jul 2003
Source: Poughkeepsie Journal (NY)
Copyright: 2003 Poughkeepsie Journal
Contact:  http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1224
Author: Erika Rosenberg
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?214 (Drug Policy Alliance)

PATAKI OFFERS DRUG REFORMS

Critics Say Bill Is Too Punitive

ALBANY -- Gov. George Pataki's newest proposal to soften the state's drug 
laws appeared unlikely to go anywhere as Democrats and activists bashed it 
Tuesday as overly harsh.

Pataki said his new bill reflected compromises Democrats and Republicans 
reached last month in a marathon seven-hour meeting at the end of the 
legislative session. But Democrats and groups pushing for drug-law reform 
said it backpedaled from some of those agreements and included new 
penalties they never favored.

The bill, made public Tuesday, would reduce prison sentences for many drug 
crimes and allow offenders now in prison to apply for shorter sentences. It 
would toughen penalties for drug kingpins and some violent offenders.

But it would not eliminate the mandatory prison sentences Democrats and 
reform groups want stripped out of the law so that judges can divert drug 
offenders to treatment programs instead of prison.

In fact, the Pataki bill creates new minimum sentences for some repeat drug 
offenders, said Deborah Small of the Drug Policy Alliance.

"It's exactly the opposite of what we've been trying to move toward," Small 
said. She called it "evidence of the bad faith the governor has shown all 
along" in years of negotiations.

"We are most disappointed by the complete lack of judicial discretion and 
the absence of any drug treatment diversion provision," said Assembly 
Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Corrections Committee chairman 
Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, in a statement.

The movement to reform the laws got a jump start this spring when hip-hop 
mogul Russell Simmons ran ads and organized rallies to spotlight the issue. 
Simmons praised Pataki's latest proposal, calling it "very fair and very 
balanced."

Specifics

Drug Reform Plan

- - More than 500 inmates convicted of the most serious drug charges could 
apply for shorter sentences.

- - About 10,000 inmates convicted of lesser drug crimes could get one-sixth 
off their sentences if they meet merit-time requirements. - Minimum 
sentences for some drug crimes would be cut in half.

- - Minimum sentences for offenders with prior violent convictions would be 
increased.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom