Prison Policy Initiative — Judges — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Judges

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individual defendant, and minimize the negative impact of minimum sentencing laws without inherently needing those laws repealed.

New York State’s elderly prison boom: An update

“New York needs to do better; aging and elderly people shouldn’t be left behind as younger people continue to benefit from the state’s overall decline in incarceration. The state can begin by making these further changes:

Seat more people on the board to combat understaffing and dismissing those who abuse and misuse their positions
End the use of the “nature of the crime” as a factor in parole decisions
Give more weight to people’s accomplishments while incarcerated
Institute a meaningful presumption of release at first eligibility
Acknowledge the fact that elderly people pose no substantial risk to public safety.“

Prison Policy Initiative

November 1, 2018

ParolePhillip ReevesNovember 1, 2018Prison Policy Initiative, New YorkComment

Judges

Galsworthy CJR Program

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