“Drug
Free School Zone”
Mandatory Minimum Sentence
In
Pennsylvania, if a person is convicted of a violating section 780-113(a)(30) of
the Drug Act, which generally prohibits the delivery,
possession with intent to deliver, or the manufacture of drugs, and if the
delivery of drugs occurs within 1,000 feet of the real property of any “school”,
then the person is subject a two year mandatory minimum sentence. This mandatory
minimum sentence is commonly
referred to as the “drug free school zone” law.
Many people believe that the “drug free school zone” law is intended to
prevent drug dealing to children, but there is actually another mandatory
minimum sentence law that punishes drug deliveries to people under 18. The intent behind the “drug
free school zone” is that drug dealing is often associated with guns and
violence, and the legislature is seeking to punish people more severely that
bring the dangerous activity in the vicinity of schools. While the law was passed with good intentions,
the Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission, based at Penn State University,
actually recommended to the legislature that the law should be repealed.
Is
a Daycare Facility a “School”
A
recent case required the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to determine whether a
daycare facility should be considered a preschool and thus trigger the “drug
free school zone” mandatory minimum sentence.
In the case, the prosecution argued that since the daycare facility was
licensed by the Department of Health and engaged in some educational activities
on a daily basis, it was in fact a preschool.
The Court held that it was a daycare facility and not a preschool
because the facility did not employ any state licensed teachers and did not
consider itself to be a preschool. The
facility called itself a daycare.
While the Court held
that the daycare was not a preschool, it still had to consider whether a daycare
facility should be considered a “school” for purposes of the “drug free school
zone” statute. The prosecution argued
that since the laws intent is to protect children from the danger of drug
activity, the legislature intended the phrase “school” to include a daycare
facility. As the “drug free school zone”
statute is a criminal law, the Court noted that it is required to strictly
construe the words in the law and cannot give them extra meanings or
definitions. The Court stated that other
Pennsylvania law referenced both schools and daycare facilities. If the legislature had intended to include
daycare facilities under the school zone mandatory minimum sentencing scheme,
then it needed to include such language in the law. As the “drug free school zone” only
references “school” and not a daycare facility, the court stated that a daycare
facility would not trigger application of the “drug free school zone” law.
Impact
on State College Drug Delivery Cases
This
case will probably have a minimal impact on how drug cases are handled in
Centre County. The “drug free school
zone” mandatory minimum sentence law will continue to have a huge impact on downtown
State College drug delivery cases. The word
“school” includes both private and public
elementary, high school, colleges,
and universities. Much of downtown State
College falls within a “drug free school zone” based upon the presence of Penn
State University, the State College School District, and the downtown State
College area has a plethora of churches that have preschool programs. This case may cause drug
defense attorneys to more closely scrutinize a preschool facility and try
to argue that the facility is in fact a daycare and not a “school.” Regretfully, if the defense attorney’s
argument is rejected the judge, the client is the ultimate loser as the client
is sentenced to a mandatory minimum sentence of two years incarceration, often
for giving a small
amount of marijuana to a friend.
