Real Reform New York- Restoring
Judicial Discretion
The Rockefeller Drug Laws’
mandatory minimum sentencing scheme compels
judges to hand out fixed sentences regardless
of the circumstances surrounding an individual's
arrest. The criterion for guilt is not
the offender’s role in the drug transaction
or whether the offender poses a genuine threat
to others, but simply the quantity of drugs in
his or her possession at the time of arrest. The
discretion to impose sentences based upon the
unique circumstances of each case and to divert
nonviolent offenders into suitable alternative-to-incarceration
programs should be returned to the judiciary in
order to ensure fair and appropriate sentences.”
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