[420 Girl]

N.J. - In his last week in office, former Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill revising the law on drug-free school zones. The revisions are appropriate and overdue.

The law applies to anyone convicted of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The offender was formerly sentenced without exception to a minimum of three years in prison and $15,000 in fines in cases involving more than an ounce of marijuana.

The law was intended to express community opposition to crime, especially crimes committed near children. The unintended consequence was that 96 percent of those imprisoned for dealing drugs within the zones were black or Hispanic.

This happened in part because in suburbs and rural areas, there are open spaces between schools, spaces where the drug-free zones law did not apply. This is frequently not the case in cities, where minorities are concentrated. There, the no-drugs circles often overlap completely, leaving no space uncovered.

Judges had no discretion. They had to sentence offenders to three years behind bars, without parole eligibility. As a result, New Jersey has the highest percentage in the nation - 35 percent - of non-violent offenders imprisoned for drug offenses.

The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services has estimated that the state could save $29,000 a year per offender if parole or probation is allowed for some who are now ineligible. The cost of supervising a person on parole or probation is about $10,000 a year.

The bill signed by Corzine will restore judicial discretion, within limits. A judge can henceforward waive or reduce the minimum term after considering various mitigating factors.

The judge will take into account the offender's prior criminal record and the gravity of the offense. Also to be considered is the location of the offense, including distance from the school and the likelihood that children would be exposed to drug-related activity.

No offense committed on school property will qualify for judicial discretion. Also, a judge's decision to reduce or waive the minimum will not take effect for 10 days, to give the prosecution time to appeal. The new rules seem sensible.

In addition to fairer treatment of offenders convicted of comparatively minor violations, the revisions will lessen the financial burden on the state prison system. Like the rest of the state government, it is under heavy pressure these days.

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