NYCLU Applauds Gov. Paterson’s Pledge to Reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws

“The Rockefeller Drug Laws are unjust, inhumane and ineffective,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “We applaud the governor for taking a strong stand today and we look forward to his leadership in ending the chronic injustice they perpetuate. Our state must restore judicial discretion to drug sentencing and explore alternatives to incarceration that treat non-violent drug offenders instead of locking them away for years and ensure that only the most egregious offenders are sent to prison.”

Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Supposedly intended to target drug kingpins, most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal record. Across the state, the Rockefeller Drug Laws create stark racial disparities and exact an enormous financial toll.

“These laws have neither curbed drug use nor enhanced public safety. Instead, they have ruined thousands of lives and annually wasted millions of tax dollars in prison costs,” Lieberman said.

Gary Pudup, director of the NYCLU’s Genesee Valley Chapter and a retired Monroe County Sheriff’s police lieutenant with 29 years of law enforcement experience, testified at the joint hearing of the State Assembly’s standing committees on codes, judiciary, correction, health, alcoholism and drug abuse, and social services.

“It is my opinion that the state’s approach to the drug problem has been ineffective and harmful,” Pudup said. “If the individuals arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated under the Rockefeller Drug Law had received treatment and rehabilitation services, many, if not most, would never have become enmeshed in the criminal justice system. These laws represent an unconscionable waste of scarce resources that would be much better spent on treatment programs, economic development and community renewal in those neighborhoods most adversely affected by the war on drugs.”