Sentencing practices, mandates, and Rockefeller drug law reforms

¶ … terminology regarding sentencing. Include a discussion of mandates and the Rockefeller drug law (what were some changes in the Rockefeller drug law?)

Sentencing and the Rockefeller Drug Laws

Although judges have a certain amount of discretion in how they conduct proceedings in their courts, in some aspects of their judicial lives their hands are bound, as in the case of mandatory sentencing guidelines. When faced with a mandatory minimum sentencing guideline a judge may impose a longer minimum sentence than is required by the law, but cannot impose a shorter sentence. There are also sentencing guidelines for the judge depending upon the severity of the offense. For example: "New York State grades felonies from A to E. A is the most serious and E. is the least serious. & #8230;the least serious felony is punishable by more than one year in [New York] State Prison. Each felony is also labeled violent or nonviolent" (Murray 2008). The criminal history of the convicted defendant will also be taken into consideration, as well as the period of time he has served in jail in most sentencing hearings.

In regards to certain crimes, however, the judge has even less discretion. For example, New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws mandate minimum prison terms for the possession or sale of even small amounts of drugs. "These sentences are mandatory regardless of the individual's background, character, role in the offense, and the circumstances of the offense. Whether the person is a first-time offender, for instance, is irrelevant" (Rockefeller drug laws, Drug Policy Alliance Network, 2009). In 2004, the NY State Legislature passed the Drug Law Reform Act of 2004 (DLRA) which imposed some limited reforms on the Rockefeller Drug Laws, including shorter minimum sentences, giving convicted inmates some access to drug treatment, and expanding parole requirements so that individuals without incident for three years would be allowed 'out of the system' ("Rockefeller drug laws," Drug Policy Alliance Network, 2009). But there was no return to the full exercise of judicial discretion that advocates of repeal of the Rockefeller Drug laws demand, and the legislature is still currently reviewing the prospect of doing away with these laws altogether. Many community activists continue to protest the laws because they contend the laws disproportionately and unfairly affect minorities and individuals who have committed only small infractions and who are on the 'lower rungs' of drug criminal hierarchies.