I'm taking a quick break from duties in Hartford, CT, to make sure you see this editorial in the
NY Times today, about the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The editorial is in response to
a report released last week by the NY State Commission on Sentencing Reform. The report was roundly criticized, both by the
Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, and by
yours truly, for its lackluster recommendations re the Rockefeller Drug Laws. After two years, the Commission agreed that judicial discretion should be restored in drug cases, but couldn't figure out how to do it and ultimately recommended maintaining prosecutorial discretion in the meantime.
Says the Times:
The New York Legislature finally seems poised to overturn the infamous Rockefeller drug laws. The impending change comes too late for the tens of thousands of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who wasted away in prison because of mandatory sentencing policies when they should have been given treatment and leniency. But after years of building support for reform, legislative leaders now have it within their power to make wholesale changes in this profoundly destructive law.
Indeed. These reforms won't happen without vigorous advocacy. That's where we come in.
Posted by gabriel sayegh