A Matter of
Injustice
The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the New York City Impact
By Sandy Bernabei, CSW, CASAC
Chair, NASW Undoing Racism Project
www.antiracistalliance.com
The Quakers built America’s first prison at the end of the 18th century
as a humane alternative to corporal and capital punishment. Our foremothers
and fathers could not have imagined what followed. Two hundred years later we
have 5 million people under the supervision of the criminal justice system,
with two million in jails or prison. Government leaders, eager to be tough
on crime, have led an unprecedented prison-building spree.
The New York State Rockefeller drug laws enacted in 1973 in response to the
post 1960’s drug epidemic, require that a judge impose a prison term of
selling two ounces or possessing four ounces of a narcotic. Penalties
apply without regard to circumstances of the offense. Big drug dealers avoid
possession penalties because urban poverty and addiction provide a never-ending
supply of desperate people who will sell drugs for them.
NYC Loses Electoral Power
New York has transferred thousands of people from its inner cities to prisons
in upstate areas. Traveling along with them is government funding and electoral
influence. There are over 18,000 New York State drug offenders incarcerated
under the Rockefeller laws, the majority of them non-violent offenders - over
13,000 are from NYC. They live in one of the 38 prisons built in
upstate counties since 1982 at a construction cost of about $2 billion and an
annual maintenance cost of $700 million each. These prison inmates who are transplanted
New York City residents are recorded by the US census bureau as residents of
the area in which the prison is located, not residents in areas where their
families still reside. As felons, they are unable to vote while incarcerated
or on parole.
Funding for Prisons vs. Higher Education
The Rockefeller Drug Laws serve to drain resources from community services and
education. From 1988 to 1998, the state increased prison spending by $761 million
and decreased annual spending on the state and city universities of
New York by approximately $615 million. This effectively shifted state funding
from education to prisons and precipitated tuition hikes that make public education
unafford-able for many low-income students. In 1997, more African Americans
and Latinos entered prison on drug convictions than graduated from state universities.
Racial Disparity
The majority of those who use and sell drugs are white, yet African Americans
and Latinos comprise about 94% of drug offenders in state prisons. Discrete
narcotic use among whites happens more often behind closed doors. In contrast,
drug use within communities of color often occurs in public spaces. This more
public drug use provides an incentive for law enforcement to concentrate on
communities such as Central Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights, South
Bronx, Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York, Queens and South Jamaica.
Some suggest that justice is readily available – but only to those who
can afford it.
The Cost of Treatment vs. Incarceration
It costs about $32,000 per year to incarcerate a male inmate and about $64,000
annually to confine a woman. Inmates are parents to approximately 80,000 children.
The cost of keeping a child in foster care is $20,000 to $55,000 a year. In
comparison, most drug free outpatient care costs in the range of $4,500 and
up to $21,000 for inpatient care annually. Drug treatment is 15 times more successful
than mandatory minimum sentencing in fighting drug abuse, reducing recidivism,
and preparing for stable and productive lives in the community.
A Matter of Justice
Growth in public support for reform has encouraged some prosecutors to divert
low-level, non-violent offenders to treatment alternatives, and has resulted
in limited legislation allowing for reduced sentences. These changes benefit
few while thousands remain unaffected. As an alternative, Assembly bill
A0852 calls for a repeal that would:
w Restore sentencing discretion to trial judges;
w Make reform retroactive;
w
Expand funding for alternatives to incarceration;
w Significantly reduce sentence lengths.
We incarcerate more people today than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.
Symbiotic relationships exist between punishment, profit and politics. This
is a call to action. Now is the time to address this crisis with action for
justice and equity. Many professional social workers have clients who are incarcerated.
The social workers counsel the children who are placed in foster homes following
their parent’s incarceration. Many place blame on the clients and the
children. Yet, it is the social workers whose job often involves picking up
the pieces of lives profoundly impacted by these Draconian laws.
Social workers offer a critical “inside” perspective on the impact
of these laws. The intended or unintended effect, is to imprison people of color
at a disproportionate rate, remove voting power from low-income communities,
allow prison construction to become a fast-growing industry that only positively
impacts certain communities, and costs taxpayers much more than was ever intended.
Yet, it is only when we understand the systemic impact of these laws that continue
to target low-income communities that we can move beyond understanding and explanation
to action.
There is no social justice without social action. Go to www.droptherock.org,
the primary information source for this article. Repealing the Rockefeller Drug
Laws means working for a more humane and compassionate New York.r