If you ask anyone if they had a choice as to whether they would rather have a drug dealer loitering on their street or locked up behind bars, I’m sure you would get the same answer - prison. The Rockefeller Drug Laws in their original form accomplished this goal and put a record number of drug dealers in prison. This sounded like a good plan to me, but the governor and the ruling parties in both legislative houses had a different idea, and argued that the drug laws were too harsh.
As such, state majority leaders amended the Rockefeller Drug Laws to provide lighter sentences for drug offenders. I voted against this measure for many reasons, but chief among them was that it allows for 1,500 convicted drug criminals, including drug dealers who sold to children, to be eligible for re-sentencing, which begins this month. Weaker sentences will send drug offenders back onto our streets where we live and raise our children.
Also included in Rockefeller Drug Law reform is placing the burden of proof onto law enforcement and district attorneys, making it more difficult to put drug dealers behind bars. Current law states that drugs found in a location are presumed to be the property of everyone at that location at the time of the discovery. Amendments to the law now shift the burden to district attorneys to prove possession, making the job of the district attorney more difficult.
I voted against Rockefeller Drug Law reform because I don’t believe in giving convicted drug offenders a “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” card. Re-sentencing sends the wrong message to New Yorkers and implies that the government isn’t taking a stand against illegal drugs and the people who deal them.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns on this, or any other state issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me at either my Johnstown office at (518) 762-6486, or my Herkimer office at (315) 866-1632.