This month marks the two-year anniversary since the passage of New York’s Drug Law Reform Act of 2004 (DLRA). Two years ago, the New York legislature finally began reforming New York’s notorious Rockefeller Drug Laws. According the Drug Policy Alliance, the Rockefeller Drug Laws are "one of the harshest mandatory minimum sentencing schemes in the nation." A first step was taken towards any meaningful reform to the draconian and racist laws in the past 33 years. After the passage of the DLRA, legislative leaders said that they would continue to push for more reforms and create more rehabilitative alternatives to incarceration. Lawyers, concerned activists, families, and community based re-entry organizations anticipated that hundreds of people would be re-sentenced and released from prison quickly. However, this never happened.
The biggest impediment to meaningful drug law reform in New York was the terms of the DLRA that did not increase the judge’s decision making power to place those who struggle with addiction into rehabilitative treatment. Also, some district attorneys thwarted efforts for early release by proposing high sentences for those who were eligible for re-sentencing. Some outright opposed re-sentencing. And some would re-argue each case as if the person were up for trial rather than treat it as a sentencing proceeding governed by DLRA policy changes. A fair interpretation of DLRA allowed Rockefeller petitioners to demonstrate their improvement and rehabilitation. Those eligible for re-sentencing have the right to provide mitigating information including life histories, letters of support from community members, positive prison adjustment, and prospects for successful re-entry.
The DLRA created some positive effect for those serving AI Felony and now AII Felony convictions, but the process has been slow and arduous. Those who have endured long periods of incarceration under the Rockefeller Drug Laws have seen little to no relief under this reform. Only a lucky few have seen immediate results, and some of them faced immediate deportation as an immigration consequence of their criminal convictions.
The New York Legislature must push for more meaningful changes to attain real drug policy reform and more sensible cost effective alternatives to non-violent drug offenses. The legislature should increase funding for more community based re-entry services that include comprehensive drug treatment and harm reduction programs, employment training and readiness, housing, and educational opportunities for those who have struggled with addictions. In addition, discretion must be taken away from district attorneys and should be given back to the judge to determine who should be eligible for rehabilitative treatment. And finally, New York must end the use of mandatory minimums out of fairness and equitable justice. The legislature must push to change our current sentencing scheme that punishes non-violent drug offenders with fixed sentences, regardless of culpability or compelling mitigating factors.
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