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  3. The War on Drugs In the late 1960s and early 1970s, New York legislators faced a drug problem they feared was growing out of

The War on Drugs In the late 1960s and early 1970s, New York legislators faced a drug problem they feared was growing out of

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问题                         The War on Drugs
    In the late 1960s and early 1970s, New York legislators faced a drug problem they feared was growing out of control. Federal statistics showed as many as 559,000 users nationwide and state police saw a 31 percent increase in drug arrests by 1972. In response Gov. Nelson Rockefeller created the Narcotic Addiction and Control Commission in 1967, aimed at helping addicts get clean. After the program proved too costly and ineffective, New York launched the Methadone (美沙 酮) Maintenance Program, which similarly caused little reduction in drug use. But by 1973, calls for stricter penalties had grown too loud to ignore, prompting Albany to pass legislation that created required minimum sentences of 15 years to life for possession of four ounces of narcotics—about the same as a sentence for second-degree murder. The provisions became known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws—a milestone in America’s war on drugs and the subject of one of the most abrasive (粗鲁的) legal tug-of-wars in the nation. The laws almost immediately led to an increase in drug convictions, but no measurable decrease in overall crime. Meanwhile, critics argued that they made what was primarily a public health problem criminal, threw nonviolent criminals into jail who were better off in treatment, caused a jump in recidivism (惯犯) rates, and prevented judges from using discretion (酌情处理权) in sentencing. In January, during his State of the State address, New York Gov. David Pater-son told his audience: " I can’t think of a criminal justice strategy that has been more unsuccessful than the Rockefeller Drug Laws."
    The effect of the new sentencing guidelines has been dramatic. Drug offenders as a percentage of New York’s prison population surged from 11% in 1973 to a peak of 35% in 1994, according to the state’s Corrections Deportment. The surge was mostly a result of convictions for "nonviolent, low-level drug possession and drug sales", Paterson told Time, " people who were addicted and were selling to try to maintain their habits." According to Paterson, just 16% had a history of violence. In 1979, the laws were amended, reducing penalties for marijuana (大麻) possession. But despite the ongoing criticism in New York, other states began to pass laws to deal with their own drug problems.
    By the mid-1980s, the war on drugs was in full swing, as the epidemic threatened to overwhelm American cities’ criminal justice systems. Drug crimes had become increasingly violent, prompting calls for even stricter required minimum sentencing laws. In 1986, the Reagan Administration passed a law requiring federal judges to give fixed sentences to drug offenders based on variables including the amount seized and the presence of firearms.
For what was the Rockefeller Drug Laws criticized?
选项 A、They would be costly and ineffective according to past experience.
B、It was the first time that drug laws had been passed in the U.S.
C、They deprived the judges of their right to sentence with their own will.
D、It would be better to send drug users for treatment instead to jail.
答案D
解析 事实细节题。由题干中的the Rockefeller Drug Laws criticized定位到第一段第八句，该句说明了这一法律受到批评的原因：把本质上的公共健康问题刑事化；把没有暴力倾向的犯罪者关进了监狱，如果让他们接受治疗的话，效果可能会更好；引起重复犯罪率的大幅上升；使法官不能够酌情对案件进行判决。综合考虑上面的因素可知D为正确答案。文章没有讨论实施这一法律的费用问题，故排除A；这项法律确是美国历史上第一份关于毒品犯罪的法律，但这并不是它受到批评的原因，故排除B；C“剥夺了法官按照自己意愿对案件进行判决的权力”，与上面的“酌情对案件进行判决”不符，故排除。
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