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For Immediate Release: March 29th, 2004 Contact: Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State Senator Liz Krueger
Pushes for Rockefeller Drug Law
Reform Cites Senate Democratic
Minority Conference Study Showing New York State Has Harshest Sentencing Laws
in the Nation Albany, NY – State Senator Liz Krueger
(D-Manhattan) today announced her support of major new drug-sentencing
reform legislation, backed by the results of a groundbreaking Senate
Democratic study that shows New York has by far the harshest drug-sentencing
laws in the nation. “This new proposal would bring New York into the
mainstream with how every other state in the country sentences non-violent,
low-level drug offenders,” said Senator Krueger. “When you look at the
results of the Senate Democratic study, it’s clear that New York is wasting
its resources -- and the lives of non-violent offenders -- in the name of an
outdated sentencing structure that’s been rejected by justice systems across
the nation.” Senator Krueger noted that the nationwide survey
was conducted by the Office of Senate Democratic Leader David Paterson,
whereby nearly 100 district attorneys, attorney generals, public defenders
and other practitioners were contacted and asked what sentencing options were
available in their states for a low-level drug seller with a prior
non-violent felony offense conviction. “What was most surprising about the study was that even
conservative states like Texas, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Utah,
and Montana have realized that high mandatory minimum sentences for
low-level, non-violent offenders doesn’t adequately address the drug problem
in society,” stated Senator Krueger.
“Yet New York stubbornly holds on to these high mandatory minimum
sentences for low-level, non-violent drug offenders, while 32 other states
allow straight probation, 12 states allow for probation with certain
qualifiers, and the remaining states mandate lesser minimum sentences for
such offenders, even when they've had a prior non-violent felony conviction.” Senator Krueger noted that the new proposal
incorporates the survey results and other practices from around the country
based upon months of intensive research, including sentencing reductions
proposed by the Governor, Senate and Assembly; amending and expanding the
determinate sentencing proposal that these same negotiators agreed upon for
Rockefeller Drug Law reform; and increasing the powers of judicial discretion
with an emphasis upon moving towards a greater dependency on treatment,
rather than imprisonment. “It’s a true nonpartisan effort to create a determinate
sentencing grid which provides a balanced approach of expanding
non-incarcerative opportunities for the truly non-violent while maintaining
harsher penalty options for the others," remarked Senator Krueger.
"The proposal calls for judicial discretion and the elimination of high
mandatory minimums. The plan also
focuses upon public safety by creating a statewide Offender Re-Entry Program
which would provide assistance to both the communities which will be
receiving those released, as well as to the ex-offenders themselves in an
attempt to help those individuals become productive members of society.” -30- |
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