Monday Map: The Last Day for Rockefeller Laws

by Matt Kelley · 2009-03-30 16:20:00 UTC
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This morning Russell Simmons wrote in this space about the coalition it took to bring down New York's destructive and failed Rockefeller drug laws. Tomorrow, the 3-year-old drug laws are likely to fall (or at least improve) as state lawmakers vote on a new budget including significant reforms to drug sentencing laws.

To mark tomorrow's historic vote, today's map is a county-by-county map of New York from the NYCLU and the justice Mapping Center. The map shows that more than 30% of prison admissions in many New York counties (both urban and rural) are currently related to drugs. Will these numbers begin to fall? We can only hope.

With these reforms of the Rockefeller Laws, drug addictions will once again be treated as a health problem. Law enforcement agencies can once again focus on preventing violent crime and serious property crime. Congratulations are in order for all of the members of the change.org community who played a part in advocating for the reform of the Rockefeller Laws over the last decade.

And just as the Rockefeller Laws started a trend that swept south and west, the reform of this law will have its effects across the country. Find out what's going on in your state here.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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