Defendants are regularly condemned to years, decades, or life in prison for minor infractions because of minimum sentencing statutes. If judges had more discretion in sentencing, then sentences could be more proportional to the crime, more specific to the individual defendant, and minimize the negative impact of minimum sentencing laws without inherently needing those laws repealed.
“Now pols like Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled Legislature are racing in the other direction — not just by forcing judges to release defendants without bail but also decriminalizing offenses, hamstringing cops and ending prosecution for certain crimes. “
New York Post
June 1, 2019
Read More“That is why we are supporting the Less Is More Act, recently introduced by Assembly member Walter Mosley, to increase public safety and reduce unnecessary incarceration. And it's why we earlier this year were among 45 current and former prosecutors in calling for making probation and parole less punitive and more rehabilitative, coming together with probation and parole administrators and their national organizations to declare probation and parole "a significant contributor to mass incarceration" that should be substantially downsized.“
New York Daily News
December 28, 2018
Read More"Mass incarceration is not just about unnecessarily incarcerating masses of people. It is about unnecessarily keeping masses of people in prison for decades. A sentence once imposed is not thereby automatically rendered, just, fair and appropriate in perpetuity. Ultimately, second-look mechanisms are meant to recognize and value the possibility of change and transformation, and to intervene when drastically long sentences are indefensible."
Gotham Gazette
June 26, 2018
Read More"A New York City man walked free for the first time in decades after a federal judge ruled he'd done enough time for his crimes. By Thursday, Alexander Landor had served 25 years in state prison for an attempted murder conviction — and Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson refused to mete out more jail time for the 'rehabilitated' man."
New York Daily News
May 24, 2018
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