'Rockefeller' drug law changes take effect today

Attorneys are preparing hundreds of petitions for resentencing under recent revisions to New York drug laws that take effect Wednesday.

The state's so-called Rockefeller era drug laws, once among the harshest in the nation, led a movement more than 30 years ago toward mandatory prison terms for drug crimes. Critics say experience shows the core issue is often addiction, with lower recidivism for those getting treatment instead of prison.

Governor David Paterson signed the reform into law last April. "Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, we did not treat the people who were addicted; we locked them up under some of the nation's harshest sentences," Paterson said in a press release Wednesday. "Families were broken, money was wasted, and we continued to wrestle with a statewide drug problem. The reforms that take effect today address those problems." 

New York Legal Aid Society attorney Bill Givney says they have about 270 possible New York City cases out of some 1,100 statewide identified by prison officials. He says petitions to criminal court judges requesting resentencing under the new lesser penalties will be filed over the next several weeks.

Paterson said the state has directed funds to support the implementation of the drug law reforms and related initiatives, including helping create or retain more than 400 new jobs or jobs that would have otherwise been eliminated. 

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