Legislators and Advocates Urge New Governor to Drop the Rock
Paterson’s past take on drug reform gives hope that he will bring change to laws
April 14th, 2008
Drug reform advocates irate at Eliot Spitzer for moving slowly on campaign promises to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws are now eyeing David Paterson (D) as a potential champion for change.
The Commission on Sentencing Reform, appointed by Spitzer’s executive order in 2007, has engaged in an exhaustive study of the state’s criminal justice system. But some have grown impatient waiting for alterations to the 35-year-old drug laws, which set strict sentences for possession or sale of narcotics, requiring lengthy prison terms for nonviolent drug crimes.
“We are not going to wait until the results of the commission,” said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association, a prison reform group which joined more than a hundred activists in Albany on March 27 for Drop the Rock Advocacy Day, to lobby staff from dozens of legislative offices.
“We are looking to the new governor to move quickly on this issue,” said Gangi. “Thirty-five years is way too long.”
When he was majority leader of Senate, Paterson was an outspoken proponent for abolishing the controversial drug laws and co-sponsored a 2004 study on the impact of the law’s harsh punishments. Paterson was also arrested at a sit-in at the governor’s mansion while demanding the laws’ repeal.
Then-Gov. George Pataki (R) signed the 2004 Drug Law Reform Act as a culmination of Paterson’s research. Though it reduced the mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and individuals with no prior offenses, drug policy advocates said it left the job unfinished.
“There are four key points that Rockefeller reform would have to include,” said Gabriel Sayegh, Project Director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “These include increasing a judge’s discretion to determine a sentence, reduction of lengthy minimum prison terms, the addition of non-prison drug addiction treatment options, and retroactivity for those sentenced under the old laws.”
Paterson has not commented on his drug law reform agenda since he became governor, despite speaking candidly about his own youthful use of marijuana and cocaine.
That is how things will likely remain until the results of the commission’s research arrive, said Paterson spokesperson Jennifer Givner.
“The Commission on Sentencing Reform has been meeting and discussing the issue regularly, and they are expected to issue a report summarizing their recommendations sometime later this spring or summer,” she said.
But the year-old commission recently postponed its expected report until late fall or the beginning of 2009, according to a spokesperson for the Division of Criminal Justice Services. A preliminary report last October recommended community-based treatment as an option for nonviolent drug addicts in lieu of prison terms.
“I am hopeful that we will be enacting substantial reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” said State Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx), the Senate’s representative on the 11-member commission. “But we are looking at all the sentencing requirements in the state. The Rockefeller Drug Laws are just a small subset of the work we are doing.”
In the meantime, Assembly Correction Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens) has been a point-person on the issue in the Legislature. Aubrey’s bill, passed last April in the Assembly, offered convicted first- and second-time drug offenders the option to receive treatment and probation instead of prison terms.
“We are in a position now to really propose the bill as we envision it,” said Aubrey. “If the governor doesn’t move now, I would say to him, ‘David, that’s the same tired thing that was said to us by Eliot Spitzer.’”
One stumbling block may be limited interest on the part of the Senate leadership.
“In the past we have supported some easing of the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” said Scott Reif, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), “but it is not a front-burner issue right now.”
With the Commission on Sentencing Reform’s report still months away, it remains to be seen whether Paterson will push through the sweeping changes he once proposed as a senator. While a repeal of the laws has been unpopular with some upstate politicians whose economies sometimes depend on revenue from state prisons, swift reform could help Paterson drum up support within the Democratic base.
“Updating the Rockefeller laws could be a mutual win for both the new governor and the Legislature,” said David Birdsell, the dean of the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. “It is imperative for [Paterson, Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver] to begin to notch some victories before they go out on the campaign trail in the fall.”
The Commission on Sentencing Reform, appointed by Spitzer’s executive order in 2007, has engaged in an exhaustive study of the state’s criminal justice system. But some have grown impatient waiting for alterations to the 35-year-old drug laws, which set strict sentences for possession or sale of narcotics, requiring lengthy prison terms for nonviolent drug crimes.
“We are not going to wait until the results of the commission,” said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association, a prison reform group which joined more than a hundred activists in Albany on March 27 for Drop the Rock Advocacy Day, to lobby staff from dozens of legislative offices.
“We are looking to the new governor to move quickly on this issue,” said Gangi. “Thirty-five years is way too long.”
When he was majority leader of Senate, Paterson was an outspoken proponent for abolishing the controversial drug laws and co-sponsored a 2004 study on the impact of the law’s harsh punishments. Paterson was also arrested at a sit-in at the governor’s mansion while demanding the laws’ repeal.
Then-Gov. George Pataki (R) signed the 2004 Drug Law Reform Act as a culmination of Paterson’s research. Though it reduced the mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and individuals with no prior offenses, drug policy advocates said it left the job unfinished.
“There are four key points that Rockefeller reform would have to include,” said Gabriel Sayegh, Project Director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “These include increasing a judge’s discretion to determine a sentence, reduction of lengthy minimum prison terms, the addition of non-prison drug addiction treatment options, and retroactivity for those sentenced under the old laws.”
Paterson has not commented on his drug law reform agenda since he became governor, despite speaking candidly about his own youthful use of marijuana and cocaine.
That is how things will likely remain until the results of the commission’s research arrive, said Paterson spokesperson Jennifer Givner.
“The Commission on Sentencing Reform has been meeting and discussing the issue regularly, and they are expected to issue a report summarizing their recommendations sometime later this spring or summer,” she said.
But the year-old commission recently postponed its expected report until late fall or the beginning of 2009, according to a spokesperson for the Division of Criminal Justice Services. A preliminary report last October recommended community-based treatment as an option for nonviolent drug addicts in lieu of prison terms.
“I am hopeful that we will be enacting substantial reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” said State Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx), the Senate’s representative on the 11-member commission. “But we are looking at all the sentencing requirements in the state. The Rockefeller Drug Laws are just a small subset of the work we are doing.”
In the meantime, Assembly Correction Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens) has been a point-person on the issue in the Legislature. Aubrey’s bill, passed last April in the Assembly, offered convicted first- and second-time drug offenders the option to receive treatment and probation instead of prison terms.
“We are in a position now to really propose the bill as we envision it,” said Aubrey. “If the governor doesn’t move now, I would say to him, ‘David, that’s the same tired thing that was said to us by Eliot Spitzer.’”
One stumbling block may be limited interest on the part of the Senate leadership.
“In the past we have supported some easing of the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” said Scott Reif, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), “but it is not a front-burner issue right now.”
With the Commission on Sentencing Reform’s report still months away, it remains to be seen whether Paterson will push through the sweeping changes he once proposed as a senator. While a repeal of the laws has been unpopular with some upstate politicians whose economies sometimes depend on revenue from state prisons, swift reform could help Paterson drum up support within the Democratic base.
“Updating the Rockefeller laws could be a mutual win for both the new governor and the Legislature,” said David Birdsell, the dean of the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. “It is imperative for [Paterson, Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver] to begin to notch some victories before they go out on the campaign trail in the fall.”
