Sentencing: Era of Mandatory Minimums for Drugs Comes to an End in Rhode Island

As of last week, Rhode Island sentencing reforms that eliminate mandatory minimums for drug offenses have taken effect. The sentencing reforms were embodied in H 5007 and its companion bill, S 039, which were passed by the General Assembly on October 29 and went into effect two weeks later without the signature of Gov. Donald Carcieri.

The new law strikes previous language mandating 10-year mandatory minimums for possession, manufacture or sale of between an ounce and a kilogram of heroin or cocaine, between one and five kilos of marijuana, and between 100 and 1,000 tablets of LSD. It also strikes 20-year mandatory minimums for quantities greater than those just listed.

It's not like it'll be a drug dealers' holiday, though. While it eliminates the old law's mandatory minimums, it keeps its maximums of up to 50 years in the first instance and up to life in prison in the second. And while it also eliminates minimum fines of $10,000 and $25,000, it raises maximum fines to $500,000 and $1 million.

Still, legislators and reform advocates were enjoying a hard-fought and long-sought victory. "I am thrilled that our hard work has finally paid off," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, sponsor of the House bill. "These sentences were enacted in a different era, at a time when policymakers around the nation believed that long sentences would act as a deterrent against drug use and drug dealing. Twenty years down the road we have seen that these policies are a failure. They have devastated our communities and driven up the prison population, costing tax-payers millions of dollars."

"It's a shame it took a disastrous economy and horrific state budget deficits for the evidence to finally sink in, but politicians at last are realizing that we as a society can no longer afford to pay for our prejudices," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "It's nice to see elected officials providing real leadership in rolling back the excesses of 1980s drug war hysteria."

For Rhode Island nonprofit Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), victory was sweet, but there are more battles to be fought. "We have always looked at this legislation as a starting point," said DARE's Executive Director Fred Ordonez. "Our hope is that this will help spark a trend among Rhode Island decision-makers to shift away from a tough-on-crime approach and towards a smart-on-crime approach."

Reform proponents led by DARE grafted together an impressive coalition of state and national organizations, including the Rhode Island ACLU, the Rhode Island Public Defender's Office, the Rhode Island Family Life Center, RICARES, the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of Rhode Island, the Roger Williams Law School, the Drug Policy Alliance, and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM).