Gov applauds, critics decry drug law reforms

BY NOAH ROSENBERG

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 11:57 AM EDT

Six months after a stroke of Governor David Paterson’s pen ceremoniously reformed the 35-year-old Rockefeller Drug Laws, the first of the laws’ historic changes – which erase mandatory sentencing provisions – have taken effect.

Under the reforms, a number of state-funded drug treatment facilities across New York will become prison alternatives for non-violent first- and second-time drug offenders. For decades, such offenders landed behind bars under drug laws that critics long decried as “Draconian.”

“By returning judicial discretion to the courtroom, we are reuniting families and fighting criminal activity and addiction in our communities,” Paterson said on Wednesday, October 7, in announcing the start of the judicial diversion component of his reforms.

“This is a proud day for me and so many of my colleagues who have fought for so long to overhaul these laws and restore judicial discretion in narcotics cases,” the Governor added.

The judicial diversion program gives superior criminal courts the choice of sending drug- or alcohol-dependent defendants to treatment programs managed by the courts. Additionally, the reforms allow for the re-sentencing of some offenders who remain incarcerated under the old Rockefeller Drug Laws.

However, Paterson’s reforms have spawned a new generation of critics who say the changes to the drug laws amount to a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for many convicts.

“Today, the Albany-approved jailbreak begins,” said City Council Public Safety Chair Peter F. Vallone Jr. in a statement issued October 7.

The Councilmember continued, “The understaffed Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor now has to spend its limited resources on trying to prevent drug dealers from being released, while it will become harder for the NYPD to keep streets safe as ‘turnstile justice’ returns to a court near you.”

Meanwhile, in signing the Rockefeller Drug Law reforms on April 24 of this year, proponents applauded an achieved balance between punishment for violent and repeat drug convicts and “kingpins” – and rehabilitation alternatives for lower level offenders.

There are currently 177 drug courts operating across New York State and 20 more are in the planning stages, according to Paterson’s office.