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Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares Statement of Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares on the Further Efforts to Reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws
ALBANY, NY – District Attorney P. David Soares released the following statement today in regards the continued need to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws: It has been well established that the addictive purchase and use of illegal drugs is both a crime and a mental illness. For the past thirty years we have attempted to address drug abuse exclusively as a crime. This policy has been wasteful, unjust, and ineffective. I support legislative mandates for a combination of treatment and/or criminal sanctions for a broad range of non-violent lower level drug law offenders. By establishing treatment as an option for offenders throughout the State, such legislation will result in a more effective, more efficient, more just, and more humane criminal justice system for all New Yorkers. Also, as a professional prosecutor with six months experience in administering the reform package enacted last year, I recognized the need to repair some of the flaws in last year’s bill. The current sentencing guidelines have the perverse effect of providing more lenient treatment to some who convicted of more serious A felonies than to those convicted of lesser B felonies. This discontinuity has created outcomes which were clearly not in the spirit of the reform legislation. Legislation addressing these flaws should be quickly enacted in the name of justice. I promised the citizens of Albany County a “tough and smart” approach to crime. More rational sentencing guidelines combined with greater access to drug treatment is both “tough and smart”. Back to Press Releases For further information contact: Richard Arthur
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