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| Lawmakers pass bill scaling back N.Y. drug sentencing |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/08/2004 |
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The New York Legislature has agreed to soften the severest of the penalties in New York state's mandatory drug sentencing statutes that date back three decades to Nelson Rockefeller's time as governor. The legislation was agreed to after negotiations between the Legislature and Gov. George Pataki, with talks becoming especially intense in the last few days. The Republican governor said Tuesday night he would sign the bill into law. Most of its provisions would go into effect 30 days after he does so. Among the reforms will be to change the current 15-to-25-years-to-life mandatory sentence under the harshest of the drug statutes to a sentence of eight years to 20 years. That would make offenders eligible for release in less than seven years. They currently have to serve the minimum of at least 15 years. Opponents of the drug laws had used the maximum life sentences of the statute -- 15-to-25-years-to-life -- as a symbol of their draconian nature, though only about 400 of the state prisons' 62,000 inmates are serving the maximum for offenses related only to drug possession. Those 400 inmates will be allowed to ask their sentencing courts to reduce their prison time in line with the new sentencing guidelines under the measure approved Tuesday. The proposal will also eliminate the maximum term of life for the most serious offenses. A common sentence of three years to life for many offenders would become a determinate sentence of three years, making offenders eligible for release in just over 2 1/2 years. There are nearly 10,000 inmates in state prison who are there for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses, though Democrats and Republicans in Albany dispute their potential level of danger to the public based on their criminal records. There will be modest reductions in the length of other prison terms under the legislation approved Tuesday. |
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