The nation's former top drug
enforcement official, Thomas A. Constantine, lent his voice today to the
fight to preserve New York's mandatory drug sentencing laws, joining
prosecutors from across the state who testified before state lawmakers
here.
The governor and leaders of the two houses of the Legislature have
proposed changes to the strict Rockefeller-era drug laws, and the
state's prosecutors have spent the last several weeks lobbying against
far-reaching changes. Today, four prosecutors, Robert M. Carney of
Schenectady County, William J. Fitzpatrick of Onondaga County, Richard
A. Brown of Queens and Bridget B. Brennan of the Office of Special
Narcotics in Manhattan, presented their case at a hearing of the Senate
Codes Committee.
The threat of stiff mandatory sentences, they told lawmakers, has
been a vital hammer to hold over the heads of drug dealers, and has
contributed to the radical reductions in crime.
Mr. Constantine, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under
President Clinton from 1994 to 1999, was not on the agenda. He sat
quietly at the table, next to the prosecutors, and at the end of the
meeting was granted the floor. "I've become very concerned that the
voice of victims is not being heard," he told the panel.
Mr. Constantine's remarks came at a testy meeting. Some Democratic
senators questioned the prosecutors' assertion that mandatory sentences
led to lower crime. Crime, they argued, had dropped nationwide.
Others asked why the vast majority of drug offenders in prison are
black and Hispanic, when most drug users in the country are white.
Prosecutors insisted that residents of minority communities are not
clamoring for shorter sentences.
Several relatives of people imprisoned under the Rockefeller drug
laws tried to get a word in. But they were not on the list of speakers.