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Contact: Gabriel Sayegh (212) 613-8048
After winning limited sentencing
reforms, Real Reform New York continues the movement
for real reform of the Rockefeller drug laws.
In December
2004, the Assembly and Senate passed a bill to
change New York state’s notorious Rockefeller
drug laws after years of inaction. The bill, signed
by Governor Pataki, was universally hailed as
a small but significant step forward in the battle
for real reform, but it is important to emphasize
that these reform do not constitute real reform.
The Rockefeller drug laws continue to stand.
The
December reforms provide the following relief:
- Resentencing
for those convicted of A1 felonies under Rockefeller.
Before the reform, those convicted of A1 felonies
were sentenced to 15/20/25 years to life. All
of these individuals can now be resentenced
to a determinate range of 8 – 20 years.
-
A 1/6 increase in merit time which applied
to everyone serving time on any Rockefeller
offense. The extra merit time is calculated
automatically but is not retroactive, which
means that the time begins accumulating from
the December 2004.
- A
reform to the sentencing grid. All of the
drug weights that triggered drug offenses have
been doubled. This reform is not retroactive.
For
more information on the A1 sentencing reforms,
click here.
Reforms for those serving non-A1’s sentences
are described here:
The New
York Times called it a “first cut”
at sentencing reform, and in the floor debate
on the reform bill, Senator Joseph Bruno said
“Of course this isn’t enough---there’s
a lot more to be done.” Michael Blain, Director
of Public Policy at the Drug Policy Alliance,
one of the leading organizations in the Real Reform
coalition, said “We are pleased that the
Real Reform coalition’s campaign to repeal
the draconian Rockefeller drug laws has generated
results. Real Reform New York, a coalition of
dozens of organizations and thousands of NY state
residents, has forced the NY Legislature and Governor
to pass a bill that is a small step in the right
direction. For the last 31 years, these laws have
incarcerated over a hundred thousand people, the
vast majority of whom are people of color. We
are pleased with the progress that has been made
in Albany thus far, but we recognize that this
is only the beginning of ending the unjust Rockefeller
drug laws.
“Our campaign must ultimately result in Real
Reform. We have been working tirelessly on this
issue, and will keep coming back until we have
achieved full judicial discretion, more sentence
reduction, retroactivity, and treatment. We will
increase our efforts on all fronts until the Rockefeller
drug laws are just a bad memory.”
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