Rockefeller drug laws
Encyclopedia
The Rockefeller Drug Laws is the term used to denote the statutes dealing with the sale and possession of "narcotic
" drugs in the New York State Penal Law
. The laws are named after Nelson Rockefeller
, who was the state's governor
at the time the laws were adopted. Rockefeller, a staunch supporter of the bill containing the laws, signed it on May 8, 1973.
Under the Rockefeller drug laws, the penalty for selling two ounce
s (approximately 56 gram
s) or more of heroin, morphine
, "raw or prepared opium
," cocaine
, or cannabis
or possessing four ounces (approximately 113 grams) or more of the same substances, was a minimum of 15 years to life in prison
, and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. The original legislation
also mandated the same penalty for committing a violent crime while under the influence of the same drug
s, but this provision was subsequently omitted from the bill and was not part of the legislation Rockefeller ultimately signed. The section of the laws applying to marijuana was repealed in 1979, under the Democratic
Governor Hugh Carey
.
The adoption of the Rockefeller drug laws gave New York State the distinction of having the toughest laws of its kind in the entire United States — an approach soon imitated by the state of Michigan
, which, in 1978, enacted a "650-Lifer Law," which called for life imprisonment
, without the possibility of parole
for the sale, manufacture, or possession
of at least 650 grams (approximately 1.45 pounds) of cocaine or any Schedule I or Schedule II opiate.
Both the New York and Michigan statutes came under harsh criticism from both the political left and the political right. William F. Buckley, one of the most conservative public figures in America, was staunchly against it, as well as many in law enforcement, who saw inherent unfairness in placing the non-violent crime of drug trafficking on a par with murder
. Economist Murray Rothbard
called the laws "draconian: long jail sentences for heroin pushers and addicts. The Rockefeller program, which of course proved finally to be a fiasco, was the epitome of the belief in treating a social or medical problem with jail and the billy club." The laws also drew intense opposition from civil rights
advocates, who claimed that they were racist, as they were applied inordinately to African-Americans, and to a lesser extent, Latino
s.
Michigan's statute was reformed somewhat in 1998, with the mandatory life sentence being reduced to a 20-year minimum. On December 14, 2004, New York Governor George Pataki
signed into law the Drug Law Reform Act (DLRA) (2004 N.Y. Laws Ch. 738 (effective January 13, 2005)), which replaced the indeterminate sentencing scheme of the Rockefeller Drug Laws with a determinate system and reduced mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent felony
drug offenders. The DLRA also reduced the minimum penalty for conviction on the most serious (A-I felony) drug charge in New York from 15-life to 8 years in prison for an offender with no prior felonies. In addition, the weight thresholds for the two most serious possession offenses (A-I and A-II) were doubled, and those serving life sentences were permitted to apply for re-sentencing. Since 2004, the number of prisoners serving sentences for A-I narcotics felonies has been cut by more than half.
In his first State of the State address
in January 2009, New York Governor David Paterson
was critical of the Rockefeller drug laws, stating, "I can’t think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller drug laws."
In April 2009, these laws were revised to remove the mandatory minimum sentences. This change allows judges to sentence individuals convicted of drug offences to treatment or to short sentences. Also, the sentencing was made retroactive, which allows more than 1000 imprisoned convicts to apply to a court to resentence and possibly release them.
New York City remains the cannabis-arrest capital of the world, with over 40,000 arrests in 2008. Despite New York's decriminalization of simple possession, New York City police arrest suspects for possession in public view, which remains a misdemeanor. During a Terry stop
, officers may falsely suggest that a suspect should voluntarily reveal contraband to avoid arrest, then arrest the suspect if he reveals cannabis to public view. In 2008, the New York Civil Liberties Union
criticized the crackdown for its cost and scope, its reliance on stop-and-frisks and police coercion to escalate simple possession into an arrestable offense, and the disproportionate number of young, black and Latino males arrested.
Narcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
" drugs in the New York State Penal Law
Penal law
In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law that seeks to redress private wrongs...
. The laws are named after Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
, who was the state's governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
at the time the laws were adopted. Rockefeller, a staunch supporter of the bill containing the laws, signed it on May 8, 1973.
Under the Rockefeller drug laws, the penalty for selling two ounce
Ounce
The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
s (approximately 56 gram
Gram
The gram is a metric system unit of mass....
s) or more of heroin, morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
, "raw or prepared opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
," cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, or cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
or possessing four ounces (approximately 113 grams) or more of the same substances, was a minimum of 15 years to life in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, and a maximum of 25 years to life in prison. The original legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
also mandated the same penalty for committing a violent crime while under the influence of the same drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, but this provision was subsequently omitted from the bill and was not part of the legislation Rockefeller ultimately signed. The section of the laws applying to marijuana was repealed in 1979, under the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Governor Hugh Carey
Hugh Carey
Hugh Leo Carey was an American attorney, the 51st Governor of New York from 1975 to 1982, and a seven-term United States Representative .- Early life :...
.
The adoption of the Rockefeller drug laws gave New York State the distinction of having the toughest laws of its kind in the entire United States — an approach soon imitated by the state of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, which, in 1978, enacted a "650-Lifer Law," which called for life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
, without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
for the sale, manufacture, or possession
Drug possession
Drug possession is the crime of having one or more illegal drugs in one's possession, either for personal use, distribution, sale or otherwise. Illegal drugs fall into different categories and sentences vary depending on the amount, type of drug, circumstances, and jurisdiction.A person has...
of at least 650 grams (approximately 1.45 pounds) of cocaine or any Schedule I or Schedule II opiate.
Both the New York and Michigan statutes came under harsh criticism from both the political left and the political right. William F. Buckley, one of the most conservative public figures in America, was staunchly against it, as well as many in law enforcement, who saw inherent unfairness in placing the non-violent crime of drug trafficking on a par with murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. Economist Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
called the laws "draconian: long jail sentences for heroin pushers and addicts. The Rockefeller program, which of course proved finally to be a fiasco, was the epitome of the belief in treating a social or medical problem with jail and the billy club." The laws also drew intense opposition from civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
advocates, who claimed that they were racist, as they were applied inordinately to African-Americans, and to a lesser extent, Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
s.
Michigan's statute was reformed somewhat in 1998, with the mandatory life sentence being reduced to a 20-year minimum. On December 14, 2004, New York Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
signed into law the Drug Law Reform Act (DLRA) (2004 N.Y. Laws Ch. 738 (effective January 13, 2005)), which replaced the indeterminate sentencing scheme of the Rockefeller Drug Laws with a determinate system and reduced mandatory minimum prison sentences for non-violent felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
drug offenders. The DLRA also reduced the minimum penalty for conviction on the most serious (A-I felony) drug charge in New York from 15-life to 8 years in prison for an offender with no prior felonies. In addition, the weight thresholds for the two most serious possession offenses (A-I and A-II) were doubled, and those serving life sentences were permitted to apply for re-sentencing. Since 2004, the number of prisoners serving sentences for A-I narcotics felonies has been cut by more than half.
In his first State of the State address
State of the State Address
The State of the State Address is a speech customarily given once each year by the governors of most states of the United States. The speech is customarily delivered before both houses of the state legislature sitting in joint session, with the exception of the Nebraska Legislature, which is a...
in January 2009, New York Governor David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...
was critical of the Rockefeller drug laws, stating, "I can’t think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller drug laws."
In April 2009, these laws were revised to remove the mandatory minimum sentences. This change allows judges to sentence individuals convicted of drug offences to treatment or to short sentences. Also, the sentencing was made retroactive, which allows more than 1000 imprisoned convicts to apply to a court to resentence and possibly release them.
New York City remains the cannabis-arrest capital of the world, with over 40,000 arrests in 2008. Despite New York's decriminalization of simple possession, New York City police arrest suspects for possession in public view, which remains a misdemeanor. During a Terry stop
Terry stop
In the United States, a Terry stop is a brief detention of a person bypoliceon reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity but short of probable cause to arrest.The name derives from Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S...
, officers may falsely suggest that a suspect should voluntarily reveal contraband to avoid arrest, then arrest the suspect if he reveals cannabis to public view. In 2008, the New York Civil Liberties Union
New York Civil Liberties Union
The New York Civil Liberties Union is an civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, it is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with nearly 50,000 members across New York State.NYCLU's stated mission is to...
criticized the crackdown for its cost and scope, its reliance on stop-and-frisks and police coercion to escalate simple possession into an arrestable offense, and the disproportionate number of young, black and Latino males arrested.
External links
- 2 hour MP3 Panel Discussion Critical of the Rockefeller Drug Laws
- NORML State by State Laws Guide
- New York Legislature to Vote on Overhauling Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws
- Albany Reaches Deal to Repeal ’70s Drug Laws