NYCLU: Rockefeller Bill a Major Step Forward

“After 36 years of gross injustice, we are finally on the verge of significant reform to these ineffective, cruel laws,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “The bill that the governor, senate and assembly agreed to does not repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws, but if it passes it will be a major step toward justice in New York.”

The final bill embraces – for the first time and in a meaningful way – three important principles of reform: It includes an elimination of mandatory minimum sentences in most cases; it includes a restoration of judges’ authority to send many drug offenders to treatment programs instead of jail; and it includes a wise shift away from treating drug abuse as a criminal justice matter and instead as a public health matter.

The reform bill comes to a vote mid-week.

“This bill is an important step toward safer, healthier communities,” said NYCLU Legislative Director Robert Perry. “Our elected leaders need to stand strong and support this bill.”

Enacted in 1973, the Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Though intended to target drug kingpins, most trapped by the laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses. Many of the thousands of New Yorkers in prison suffer from substance abuse problems or issues related to homelessness, mental illness or unemployment.

For decades, the NYCLU, criminal justice advocates and medical experts have fought to untie the hands of judges and allow addiction to be treated as a public health matter. As noted in the New York State Sentencing Commission’s recent report, sentencing non-violent drug offenders to prison is ineffective and counterproductive, and has resulted in unconscionable racial disparities: Blacks and Hispanics comprise more than 90 percent of those currently incarcerated for drug felonies, though most people using illegal drugs are white.