The most basic change would be to reduce the distance of the zones to 100 feet of protected places. Barring repeal, there are several ways to modify the geographic scope of the law to more closely meet the legislature’s goal of protecting children by deterring drug activity away from certain places. The most comprehensive solution is for the Connecticut legislature to repeal the enhancement zones, and instead rely on the already-existing laws that give additional penalties for involving children in drug activity. Connecticut’s sentencing enhancement zone policy essentially increases the sentence for offenses committed within cities, leaving a lower penalty for offenses committed in towns. In more sparsely-populated towns, very little area is covered by these zones, and people facing drug charges in these non-urban areas are subject only to the base penalties for the underlying offense. In addition to failing to achieve its goal of creating protected spaces, the law creates an “urban penalty” that increases the sentence imposed for a given offense simply because it was committed in a city rather than in a town.īecause schools, day cares, and public housing are scattered throughout densely-populated urban communities, most areas in Connecticut cities are covered by zones that trigger the extra mandatory minimum sentence in addition to the base penalty for the underlying offense. In essence, when everywhere is special, nowhere is special. At 1,500 feet, however, these zones are so large that they blanket entire cities, leaving no uniquely protected areas. The law attempts to mete out increased penalties in select protected zones to drive undesirable activity away from the designated protected places. The biggest obstacle to efficacy is that the zones are too expansive to serve as functional deterrents. This report shows that the law doesn’t work, it cannot possibly work, and that it creates an unfair two-tiered system of justice based on a haphazard distinction between urban and rural areas of the state. In practice, however, fundamental flaws with Connecticut’s law prevent it from actually protecting children from drug activity. The law creates additional mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses that are committed within the zones. Connecticut’s sentencing enhancement law creates enhanced penalty zones that extend 1,500 feet from schools, day care centers, and public housing. Reaching too far: How Connecticut’s large sentencing enhancement zones miss the markĬonnecticut, like most states, attempts to steer drug activity away from places where children may be present by mandating extra penalties for drug-related offenses committed in certain geographic areas.
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