NYCLU: Commission Must Recommend Reform of Inhumane Drug Laws

The Sentencing Commission, established by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, is tasked with reforming New York’s convoluted and complex sentencing system. The Commission’s recently-released preliminary report, however, did not include any substantive recommendations for reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws, despite previous claims that the laws were a top priority. Responding to public pressure, the Commission held public hearings today at the New York City Bar Association to allow the New Yorkers to weigh in on the need for Rockefeller Drug Law reform.

In testimony presented to the commission, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said the drug laws are ineffective and inhumane.

“The Sentencing Commission has a historic opportunity – and a duty – to address the well-documented injustice, racial bias and inefficiency caused by the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “It is disappointing that, after nearly nine months of work, the commission has been all but silent about this clear blight to our justice system. We hope this silence is not reflective of Governor Spitzer’s views, and we call upon the commission to comply with its mandate to ensure the imposition of appropriate and just criminal sanctions.”

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 major dealers (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.

Despite modest reforms in 2004 and 2005, the Rockefeller Drug Laws continue to deny people serving under the more punitive sentences to apply for shorter terms, and do not increase the power of judges to place addicts into treatment programs. Nearly 14,000 people are locked up for drug offenses in New York State prisons, representing nearly 22 percent of the prison population, costing New Yorkers hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

 

The testimony linked above is also available as a PDF. Click here to read it.