« CA: Apple Valley considers a prison | Main | Haiti: Country Without a Net »
January 14, 2010
Drug Policy Alliance on Legal Aid Society Report Finding that 2004 and 2005 Rockefeller Drug Reforms a Huge Success
Sections of the press release from DPA. A link to the Legal Aid Society report is at the bottom of this email.
January14,2009
New Legal Aid Society Report Finds that 2004 and 2005 Rockefeller Drug Law Reforms Huge Success: Tens of Millions of Dollars Saved with Low Levels of Recidivism by Individuals Released from Prison
New York Prosecutors Lose Credibility as Report Counters Past and Current Misleading Claims
New York— A new report released today by the Legal Aid Society of New York shows that the changes to the Rockefeller Drug Laws in ‘04 and ‘05 have been a huge success with tens of millions of dollars being saved and remarkably low levels of recidivism of people who have been re-sentenced and released from prison. On average, people who were re-sentenced and released early from prison as a result of the 2004 and 2005 drug law reforms have an overall recidivism rate of 8.5 percent, while the overall rate of recidivism rate for people released in the same period is nearly 40 percent.
The report analyzes data related to the 2004 and 2005 reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, where over 1,000 incarcerated people became eligible for resentencing and release. The findings illustrate that New York’s judges are exercising their discretion on a case by case basis and proving to be an effective screen that protects the community from new crime. The recidivism rate for those people who were re-sentenced and have been out of prison for three years is about three times better than that produced by the highly praised DOCS Shock program. The report also finds by resentencing and releasing eligible people under drug law reform, the state saved over $40 million.
“The process by which judges exercise discretion who should be resentenced has shown to be effective,” said William Gibney, an attorney and co-author of the report. “The majority of those re-sentenced and released under the drug law reform have not committed new crimes. Despite the claims of dangerous consequences by District Attorneys in opposing re-sentencing petitions, the people released so far under the drug law re-sentencing provisions have proven to pose a low risk to the community.”
Building on the limited reforms of 2004 and 2005, Governor Paterson enacted real reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 2009, which included expanding treatment instead of incarceration for low level drug offenses and allowing for over 1,000 people incarcerated on low-level nonviolent drug offenses to petition the court for resentencing. During every step of the process, some district attorneys worked to block the reforms and their implementation, promising that real reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws would result in chaos on the streets.
http://www.legal-aid.org/media/127984/drug-law-reform-paper-2009.pdf
Posted by lois at January 14, 2010 05:03 PM