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The Effectiveness And Ineffectiveness Of The Rockefeller Laws

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Register to read the introduction… These unforgiving laws, which place enormous minimum sentences for drug-sale convictions, prove to be ineffective and expensive and have been criticized as being unfair and unnecessary. The laws have since been reformed under New York Governor George Pataki in 2004, but the changes made were negligible and leave many of the Rockefeller laws' most severe features untouched. Perhaps the reason why the laws have not been further rectified is because they are associated explicitly with New York. If the public only knew how influential these laws are, how they marked change throughout the nation, then there would be more urgency to revoke, to make right our nation’s varying drug laws, and to create one, cohesive protocol by which each state will abide by. This nation needs to explore the major flaws of the Rockefeller Laws, the ineffectiveness of the "reformed" laws and needs to act on the call for alternative sentencing for drug offenders.

New York State has lived for more than thirty years now with the unfair Rockefeller Laws. These racist laws have targeted women and minorities such as Hispanics and blacks. There is no question the Rockefeller Laws are racially …show more content…
May 2001.
“Drop the Rock: Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws.” The Correctional Association of

New York. February 2007. 3 March 2008.

Duane, Tom. “Testimony of New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane Before the New

York State Commission on Sentencing Reform.” 2007. 3 March 2008.

<http://www.tomduane.com/news/public_testimony/Testimony%20on%20Sentencing%20Reform.html>
Gibney, William. “One Year Later: New York’s Experience With Drug Law Reform.”

The Legal Aid Society. 2005. The Legal Aid Society. 3 March 2008. <http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/DLRA_2005_Report.pdf>
Goodman, Amy. “Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett.”

Democracy Now! 2004. 3 March 2008.

<http://www.democracynow.org/2004/3/26/life_on_the_outside_the_prison>
“How the Rockefeller Drug Laws Harm Society…Women in Prison and its Effect on

Families.” Interfaith Impact of New York State. 2004. Albany. 3 March 2008.

< http://www.interfaithimpactnys.org/positionpapers/womenprison.htm#top>

Lyall, Sarah. “Without Money to Supply Prison Beds, Officials Consider

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