By finally tackling New York State's three-decades-old drug sentencing laws - considered among the most severe in the nation - the State Legislature has raised a lot of hopes and plenty of questions among prisoners, their families, and their lawyers. It has also raised fears among advocates for prison reform, who contend that the changes enacted to the Rockefeller drug laws on Tuesday are relatively modest, but may nevertheless reduce public pressure for a more comprehensive overhaul in the way New York treats drug offenders. Indeed, to some advocates, the new bill is not even half a loaf, but more like a heel of bread, which will leave many prisoners and their families with dashed hopes. Chauncey G. Parker, director of criminal justice services for the state, said that people arrested for felony level drug offenses have an average of three previous felony arrests and four prior misdemeanor arrests. The new legislation, which Gov. George E. Pataki has pledged to sign, will reduce minimum sentences for drug offenses. For example, first-time offenders convicted of a Class A-1 drug felony, who under current law must receive a minimum sentence of 15 years to life in prison, would instead generally face terms of less than eight years. In cases of drug possession, rather than sales, the new law also doubles the amount of heroin, cocaine and some narcotics that automatically turn cases into top-level felonies. But the most heralded change will affect prisoners who were sentenced to especially long sentences, as much as 25 years behind bars, and will now be able to petition the courts to have their lengthy sentences reduced to the new, lower levels. According to data from the New York State Department of Correctional Services, that change could affect 446 prisoners. That is only a sliver of the 15,600 felons imprisoned on drug charges. So many families who were cheering the Legislature's efforts are now deeply disappointed, said Randy Credico, director of the Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice and an organizer of the group Mothers of the New York Disappeared. He is faced with calling many of the group's members, he said, and tell them their children "are not coming home." [more]and [more