Drug-free zones, which trigger harsher penalties for drug crimes committed in the vicinity of schools, should be made smaller so they don't overlap in cities like Trenton, some New Jersey advocates and lawmakers say.

The Trenton Times reported June 15 that some proposals call for reducing the size of drug-free zones in the state from 1,000 feet around schools and other public buildings to 200 feet, while simultaneously increasing penalties for selling drugs within the smaller zones.

Critics say that the overlapping zones unfairly subject minorities in urban areas to tougher penalties even when they are not selling drugs to kids. The New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing, for example, found that while about 19 percent of drug distribution arrests in rural areas occurred in drug-free zones in 2004, more than 81 percent of drug arrests in urban areas occurred within a drug-free zone. The commission also found that 96 percent of those arrested were black or Hispanic.

"When you take the number of schools in Trenton and draw that thousand-foot radius around each one, it obviously does take up a lot of our area," said Trenton Police Lt.  Stephen Varn.

But Trenton School Board Vice President Alexander Brown said that, "Reducing the zones would have our children pass through a (phalanx) of drug dealers every day. This would bring drug trafficking 800 feet closer to our schools. Some legislators believe the zones have placed a hardship on drug dealers. To me, I say 'tough.'"

"I think the entire city of Trenton should be a drug-free zone, that's my position," said state Sen. Shirley Turner, who favors expanding, not shrinking, the zones. "Every municipality should be drug-free."

Trenton City Council President Paul Pintella agreed. "I understand the challenge behind urban districts where schools are directly in the heart of neighborhoods; but we shouldn't make exceptions for the people who live there," he said. "They shouldn't be selling drugs in the first place, especially to our kids."