Every “rockefeller Drug Laws”

“Rockefeller Drug Laws”

In May of 1973, New York’s Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, made a set of strict anti-drug laws for the state legislature. The purpose of these laws was to stop the drug abuse epidemic that was occurring in New York during the early 1970’s. It was the most severe law in the nation; the drug laws were to punish those who possessed and sold heavy amounts of narcotics like cocaine and heroine and to hold them in custody for the amount they possessed or sold. For example, if the person was caught with the possession of two or four ounces of drugs on them the minimum time in a federal prison would be 15 years to life, no matter what age (if the offender was of 15 years of age or older). Many problems began to occur concerning the laws, also there were many critiques concerning weather or not it would work and be kept as a law.

The Rockefeller Drug Laws is still one of the most brutal drug laws in the nation because of its ground breaking punishments. The laws state specifically that, “the statutes require judges to impose a sentence of 15-years to life for anyone convicted of selling two ounces, or possessing four ounces of "narcotic drugs". This made it clear for all those that were “dealing drugs” that this was a no-nonsense rule. This was the beginning of up coming events in history that lead to protests and also very famous summits done by family members of people in prison under the unfair ruling, friends and supports of those against the harsh laws to keep drugs off the streets.

The purpose of the laws was to provide protection and isolation from people who were not yet involved with the drug epidemic. Also, it provided peace of mind for politicians that wanted to get the drug dealers off the streets permanently. For New York the drug war had just begun. Many people were for the new laws; they saw drug dealing as if it were just like murder because the death rate from narcotics at the time was increasingly high and the danger of the drugs being on the streets was worse. The consequences of these laws have become even exaggeratedly ridiculous. In many cases a first time drug offender being charged under these laws can receive a higher sentencing then a person convicted of murder or rape. This meant that by possessing a kilo of cocaine or heroine you would be in jail for more time then a person that basically kills someone for fun.

The drug laws became even worse when space in prisons were becoming minimum and the expense to keep someone in prison was becoming more expensive. The prison business was getting more popular by the minute and even more expensive. The price to keep a drug offender in prison was more then doubled. The General Fund State Operations budget for New York State prisons went from 10% to 25% in a year (1982-83). This was more money then New York had ever spent for imprisonment of drug offenders. There were 8,880 drug offenders in NYS prisons under the Rockefeller Drug Laws in December of 1997 only. According to the Correctional Association of New York, it costs an estimated $265 million dollars to pay for these prisoners to be incarcerated. There was also an additional 12,102 drug offenders in NYS prisons under the Second Felony Offender Law, costing an estimated $360 million per year. In total there was an estimate of 22,670 drug offenders in the NYS prison system, showing a 33% of the total prison population. Compared to the estimate shown in 1980 when there was only 9%.

Not only is it becoming expensive to keep someone incarcerated, but also the population shown in these prisons is also outrageous. The effect that the laws have had on people was more towards minorities and women. Minorities were the biggest offenders in NYS prisons under the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The number of racial gaps had increased from having 33,000 people in prison under the drug law and 35% of them were blacks, Hispanics, and other racial nationality other then white. Women are at an even higher rate of incarceration than men. In an early study to determine the percentage of women prisoners under the law the results were devastating. The percentage had increased to 61.2% of all female prisoners from under the laws from a 33%. The rate of the court commitments in January of 1987 through

December was 98.9% females versus 33.5% males.

This was becoming a crisis close to home to everyone. It was an issue that concerned people that didn’t even have or know anyone incarcerated, the reason was because of the costs. New York was spending all this money to keep offenders in prison but the people paying for it were the citizens. Taxes had gone higher to pay for new construction work to be done in prisons for more space and to keep them locked up for their sentencing. It cost $100,000 to keep 40 inmates in jail a year