Drug Free Zones
For
full report see:
http://www.justicepolicy.org/reports/SchoolZonesReport06.pdf
New national report
shows that drug-free zone laws fail to protect youth from drug sales, worsen
racial disparity in prisons
Growing movement to change ineffective laws finds
support among lawmakers and law enforcement officials
Washington, D.C. – Laws that heighten penalties for drug activity near schools,
public housing and other designated locations fail to protect youth, according
to a new report from the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). Several states are
considering proposals to either eliminate or narrow the scope of the drug-free
zone laws, in order to enhance public safety and minimize unintended
consequences.
“The school zones laws don’t work the way we want them to – we are not actually
giving criminals an incentive to stay away from schools,” said William
Brownsberger, a drug policy expert and former Assistant Attorney General for
Narcotics for Massachusetts. “If we reduced the size of the zones, we would
actually protect kids better.”
The report, “Disparity by Design: How
drug-free zone laws impact racial disparity – and fail to protect youth,”
examines drug-free zone laws in a variety of states through a national policy
lens. Building on research from New Jersey and Massachusetts, the report also
reviews data and recent developments in Connecticut, Washington, Utah, Texas,
and considers the history of the laws as well as the growing chorus of criticism
from lawmakers, law enforcement, prosecutors and advocates. The JPI report,
authored by Judith Greene, Kevin Pranis and Jason Ziedenberg, was commissioned
by the Drug Policy Alliance.
“For two decades, policymakers have mistakenly assumed that these statutes
shield children from drug activity,” said report author Judith Greene. “We found
no evidence that drug-free zone laws protect children, but ample evidence that
the laws hurt communities of color and contribute to mounting correctional
costs.”
Drug-free zone laws provide heightened penalties for drug offenses that occur
within restricted areas – generally 1,000-foot zones, roughly the length of
three football fields – surrounding schools, public housing projects, parks,
playgrounds, and other locations. Many drug-free zone statutes require mandatory
minimum prison terms, denying judges the discretion to determine the appropriate
penalty on a case-by-case basis.
The laws blanket densely-populated areas with overlapping zones and are
frequently applied to transactions that take place in private residences, far
from schools, and with no children present. In one instance, a man received an
enhanced sentence for selling marijuana to a police officer in his second-floor
apartment, simply because his building happened to be 950 feet away from the
property line of the nearest school.
Key findings on the failures of drug-free zone laws include:
Drug-free zone laws do not serve their intended purpose to protect youth from
drug activity. A Massachusetts study of drug enforcement in three cities found
that less than one percent of the drug-free zone cases actually involved sales
to youth. Analysis of hundreds of Connecticut drug-free zone cases identified
just three such cases – all involving students arrested on school grounds. In
Connecticut and Massachusetts researchers found that most of the sales occurred
outside traditional school hours. Contrary to fears of drug dealers on
playgrounds, Utah’s Sentencing Commission found that most sales actually occur
within a residence that simply happens to be located with in a zone. “The
purpose of drug-free school zones was to protect children and schools by
insulating them from drug activity,” said New Jersey Assistant Attorney General
Ron Susswein. “Our intention was to create a safe harbor for children by pushing
the pushers away. Unfortunately, the current 1,000-foot zones have failed to
achieve that objective.”
Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by drug-free school zone
laws. Densely populated urban neighborhoods, where people of color are more
likely to live, are blanketed by prohibited zones, while rural and suburban
neighborhoods are less affected. In New Jersey, three-quarters of Newark, and
over half of Jersey City and Camden, falls within a zone compared to just six
percent of rural Mansfield Township. The result of this “urban effect” is what
New Jersey’s sentencing commission terms “a devastatingly disproportionate
impact on New Jersey’s minority community.” In Connecticut – which has been
ranked number one in terms of racial disparity in incarceration – cities where
the majority of residents are nonwhite have ten times more zones per square mile
than localities where less than 10 percent of residents are black or Hispanic.
Unequal enforcement contributes to sharp racial disparities in incarceration
rates. The racial disparity that results from the “urban effect” of drug-free
zone laws appears to be exacerbated by disparate drug enforcement patterns. In
Dorchester, Massachusetts researchers found that nonwhites were more likely to
be charged with an offense that can carry a drug-free zone enhancement than
whites who engaged in similar conduct. Blacks and Hispanics account for just 20
percent of Massachusetts residents but 80 percent of drug-free zone cases. In
New Jersey, blacks in suburban and rural areas are far more likely than their
white counterparts to be arrested and convicted of drug-free zone offenses. New
Jersey devotes a larger share of beds to drug prisoners than any other state
corrections system. Blacks and Hispanics make up just a quarter of the state’s
resident population, while they comprise 96 percent of prisoners serving time
for drug-free zone offenses. National studies have found that whites, blacks and
Hispanics use illegal drugs at similar rates, and also that most users obtain
drugs from people with their own racial or ethnic background.
Drug-free zone laws do not deter drug sales. In New Jersey, sentencing
commissioners could find no deterrent effect of the drug-free zone law. Fewer
than one in 10 arrests takes place just outside the zones. Moreover, the number
of drug-free zone arrests has risen since the law was enacted, rather than
falling – as would be expected if drug sellers had moved their activity to avoid
prohibited zones. The commission concluded that the size of the zones erodes
their deterrent effect. According to Judge Barnett E. Hoffman, chair of the
commission, “Giant unbroken drug-free zones…actually dilute the special
protection the laws are supposed to offer”
Drug-free zone laws erode the constitutional right to trial by forcing
defendants to plead guilty or risk long prison terms. At least half of the 46
individuals arrested in an infamous drug sweep in Tulia, Texas faced enhanced
prison terms under the state’s drug-free zone statute. In Washington state,
prosecutors acknowledge that the principal function of drug-free zone
enhancements is not to deter drug activity near schools but to “clear the trial
calendar” and the data support that contention.
Several states are reconsidering drug-free zone laws. Last year, Illinois
legislators reformed their drug-free zone laws to remove a provision that
required that 15- and 16-year old drug sellers be automatically tried as adults.
Officials in four states have proposed reforms to drug-free zone laws that range
from reducing the size of the zones to replacing them with a more narrowly
tailored law to protect children.
Connecticut – A hearing is being held on Friday,
March 24, on a bill (HB 5780) that would reduce the scope of the zones from
1,500 to 200 feet, and would require postings to mark the boundaries.
New Jersey – The
state’s sentencing commission recommends that zones be narrowed from 1,000 to
200 feet – a proposal that enjoys the support of prosecutors and police chiefs –
and a bill incorporating their recommendations has been introduced (S 278).
Washington –A bill to decrease the zones to 200 feet
and limit the hours of application was introduced this year and advocates expect
the issue to return in the next legislative session.
Utah – The
state’s parole board recommends replacing the drug-free zone enhancement with an
enhancement for only those convicted of selling or manufacturing drugs in the
presence of children.
New Jersey’s sentencing commissioners and other proponents of reducing the size
of prohibited zones believe that the reform will accomplish two objectives: more
effectively deter drug activity that occurs within sight of schools and other
protected locations; and lessen the impact of mandatory sentencing on urban
communities, thereby reducing racial disparities.
“The findings in this report confirm what we’ve known for years – that the
current drug-free school zones don’t deter illicit drug sales or use in our
communities,” said Connecticut State Rep. Marie Lopez Kirkley-Bey (D-Hartford),
Deputy Speaker of the House. “Where the laws have failed to increase public
safety, they’ve been wildly successful in promoting terrible racial disparities.
This is why I’ve introduced legislation to reform these laws, because effective
drug policies will bring us safer communities, safer schools, and safer kids.”
###
The Justice Policy Institute (www.justicepolcy.org) is a national nonprofit
organization dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration as a
solution to social pr