COMMISSION SEEKS TO SHRINK DRUG-FREE SCHOOL ZONES

Contending drug-free school zone laws have unfairly affected
minorities in urban areas and failed to protect children, a state
commission yesterday called for shrinking the zones to 200 feet but
increasing sentences for violations in the zone. The commission found
96 percent of those jailed for drug-free school zone crimes are
either black or Hispanic. "This is just wrong and unacceptable," said
Barrett E. Hoffman, a retired Superior Court judge and chairman of
the state Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. The zones
typically cover large swathes of cities, which, according to the
commission, undermines the law's effectiveness. It reviewed drug
activity in Newark and found drug dealers were neither largely aware
of school zones nor curtailed their activity because of them. "What
the zones do accomplish, however, is a serious unintended result,"
Hoffman said. "That is, to discriminate against minorities with
devastating effect." The Assembly has already moved on the
recommendation. An Assembly committee on Monday voted to release for
a final Assembly vote legislation that would implement the proposal.

The Senate hasn't considered the idea, but Senate Majority Leader
Bernard F. Kenny, D-Hoboken, was on the commission that voted
unanimously to endorse the change. The existing drug-free school zone
laws carry set sentences for those convicted of distributing and
possessing with intent to distribute illegal drugs within 1,000 feet
of schools and 500 feet of public property. The laws were enacted in
1987 amid the crack cocaine epidemic.

If approved, the new law would create a uniform 200-foot zone around
schools and public places. Selling small amounts of marijuana would
no longer carry a mandatory one-year prison sentence, but could mean
a five year prison term. Selling harder drugs would no longer carry a
mandatory 3-year prison sentence, but could be up to 10 years in
prison. Hoffman argued the proposal wouldn't soften drug laws, but
would make them fairer and effective and give judges more leeway. "We
must be smart on crime," he said. Yvonne Smith Segars, the state
public defender, said she is concerned about toughening sentences,
but said changing the law was "long overdue." "I do understand that
we needed to come to a common ground," Segars said. The commission
studied Camden, Newark and Jersey City. Trenton Mayor Douglas H.
Palmer said he would have to review the report, but had concerns.

He said those arrested for violations may mostly be minorities, but
he said victims of drug crimes were also mostly minorities. "Our
biggest problem is the number of guns on the streets and the people
who are so free in using guns," Palmer said. Assemblymen Francis
Bodine, R-Moorestown, and Larry Chatzidakis, R-Mount Laurel, have
criticized the proposed changes. "I cannot think of a worse way to
address prison overcrowding than to weaken laws specifically designed
to protect our children from drugs," Bodine said. While they said
they may favor changing the sentencing laws, they preferred expanding
the zones. "The danger that drug use poses to our children, and the
violence associated with the drug trade, provide more than enough
reasons to oppose any effort to weaken these laws," Chatzidakis said.

Roseanne Scott, director of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey,
praised the proposal. "These laws were ill conceived and unsupported
by any evidence of their effectiveness," Scott said. The commission
was established by the Legislature in 2004 to review the state's
sentencing laws. It was created to study whether the laws were fair
and proportional, and spent five months researching and debating statutes.