By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

JAY STREET — Gov. David Paterson visited Kings County Supreme Court Wednesday to mark the occasion of the long-awaited revisions of the Rockefeller Drug laws taking effect.

Gov. Paterson and Kings County Admin-istrative Judge for Criminal Matters Barry Kamins both spoke of their support for the reforms, which, beginning Wednesday, give judges the option of offering nonviolent drug offenders treatment instead of prison. Some nonviolent offenders convicted under the Rockefeller laws will also have a chance to appeal for resentence, under the law that Gov. Paterson signed in April.

“Today is a day of second chances,� Paterson told the crowded courtroom at Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday.

Brooklyn judges will be shouldering almost half of the 270 individual resentencing appeals that will be brought in New York City courts, out of an estimated 1,500 inmates statewide who were incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses under the old set of laws.

Judge Kamins said he was aware of about 125 individuals who would be appealing for resentence in Kings County.

“The judges are prepared for that,� Kamins told the Eagle. “By the end of the year, we hope to get through most of them.�

Justice Raymond Guzman and Justice James Sullivan, both of Brooklyn Supreme Court, will be handling some of these appeals in the new Judicial Diversion part, Kamins said.

The official title of the new legislation is the Judicial Diversion Program for Certain Felony Offenders. It both removes mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and gives judges the discretion to decide whether or not a drug offender with a diagnosis of drug or alcohol dependence needs prison time or treatment.

“Before, you usually had to get the consent of the D.A.,� explained Justice Kamins. “This new law is giving the judge the discretion to do that.�

Now that judicial authorities have officially recognized that treatment for drug offenders can be more effective than punishment, the state’s judges are ready for a new approach to stopping drug crime, Paterson said.

The state has also directed funds to implement these reforms, in part by funding drug treatment courts around the state that follow the model of Brooklyn Treatment Court.

Since the first drug court was first established in Brooklyn in June 1996, the program has seen 4,208 participants and 2,144 graduates. The court currently has 321 participants. There are 177 drugs courts operating in communities throughout the state and an additional 20 are in the planning stages.

Gov. Paterson spoke about the crack epidemic and criticized the old approach to fighting drugs, saying that the policy of throwing drug users in jail “left their families to pick up the pieces and the state to pick up the tab.�

In 1973, then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller persuaded lawmakers to pass tough mandatory sentencing laws, saying they were needed to fight a drug-related “reign of terror.� However, these laws received criticism for adding to the state inmate populations while having little apparent effect on crime rates. The strictest provisions were removed in 2004.

“Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, we did not treat the people who were addicted, we locked them up under some of the nation’s harshest sentences,� Paterson said. “This is a proud day for me and so many of my colleagues who have fought for so long to overhaul these laws and restore judicial discretion in narcotics cases.�

Judge Kamins and Gov. Paterson spoke before an audience of judges, court staff and graduates of Brooklyn Treatment Court who have successfully rehabilitated themselves and beaten their drug addictions. Among those in attendance were Kings County Administrative Judge for Civil Matters Sylvia O. Hinds Radix, New York State Chief Administrative Judge Anne Pfau, New York City Deputy Administrative Judge Fern Fisher, Judge Betty Williams, Judge Judy Harris Kluger, and Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Denise O’Donnell.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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