\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 3, 2014\n<\/p>\n
\nContact:
\nAleks Kajstura, 413-527-0845\n<\/p>\n
\nEasthampton, Mass. \u2014 The Prison Policy Initiative released a report, \u201cReaching too far: How Connecticut\u2019s large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark\u201d, that analyzes Connecticut\u2019s failed 1,500-foot sentencing enhancement zones. Connecticut\u2019s law, meant to protect children from drug activity, requires an additional sentence for certain drug offenses committed within 1,500 feet of schools, day care centers, and public housing projects. The resulting sentencing enhancement zones are some of the largest in the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe law\u2019s sheer expanse means it fails to actually set apart any meaningfully protected areas and it arbitrarily increases penalties for urban residents,\u201d explains Aleks Kajstura, Legal Director at the Prison Policy Initiative, and the report\u2019s author.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe report mapped eight of the zones in the state\u2019s cities and towns and demonstrates that the law doesn\u2019t work, and in fact cannot possibly work as written. In addition to failing to achieve its goal of creating protected spaces, the report found, the law creates an \u201curban penalty\u201d that increases the sentence imposed for a given offense simply because it was committed in a city rather than in a town. For example, 92% of the City of Bridgeport residents live in a sentencing enhancement zone while only 8% of the Town of Bridgewater\u2019s residents do.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe report recommends the sentencing enhancement zones be shrunk to 100 feet. This would allow the law to actually create the specially protected places as intended. Connecticut Senate Bill 259, which just passed out of the Judiciary Committee, takes a similar approach and would decrease that size to 200 feet. At these shorter distances the zones would come much closer to the law\u2019s original intent of protecting children, and significantly reduce the urban penalty effect.\n<\/p>\n