The Jersey City Independent"

Legislation to amend New Jersey’s drug-free school zone law to give judges more discretion in sentencing nonviolent drug offenders was passed by the state Senate yesterday by a vote of 24 to 11.

The bill, which was co-sponsored by Jersey City Sen. Sandra Cunningham, would replace the existing mandatory minimum drug sentencing guidelines with more discretion for judges. Under the bill, a judge would be required to consider certain factors when deciding whether to incarcerate or employ alternatives like parole or probation.

Critics of the current law — including Cunningham — contend that the bill disproportionately impacts the state’s urban residents.

“The saying goes that justice is blind, but in New Jersey, as a result of mandatory minimum prison terms for certain drug offenses, it appears that justice is not color-blind,” she says in a statement. “Mandatory minimum prison terms for offenses that take place in drug-free school zones have had an unequal impact on the state’s urban population, which is predominantly composed of minority individuals.”

For example, 54 percent of Jersey City sits within an enhanced drug penalty zone, compared to only 6 percent in the rural Warren County municipality Mansfield Township.

“Rather than condemn first-time, nonviolent drug offenders to a life of crime by locking them away with hardened criminals — and giving them a criminal record which will follow them the rest of their lives — we ought to refocus our justice system’s priorities,” Cunningham continues. “It costs three times more money to incarcerate a nonviolent offender than it does to get that offender into a substance abuse treatment program. By giving judges more discretion in sentencing nonviolent offenders, hopefully we can spare more attention and resources to protect urban residents from the violence and bloodshed which are symptoms of the growing street gang presence in our cities.”

The Assembly passed a version of this legislation in 2008, but it still must approve the amendments the Senate version has added. Gov. Corzine has pledged to sign such a bill if it comes to his desk. It’s unclear if Gov.-elect Chris Christie would do so, but even if he would, the legislature would have to start from scratch when the new session begins in January if the Assembly fails to pass it.