View Comments
ALBANY – New York lawmakers took action Thursday to make changes to the state s parole system, but they failed to reach a deal on a bill favored by progressives that would have sealed certain criminal convictions after a set period of time.
The passage of the Less Is More Act, which would prevent those on parole from being sent back to prison for technical violations, came on the final day of the Legislature s 2021 session and now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for final approval.
But lawmakers were not able to reach consensus on more robust measures to reform the parole system, including a bill that would focus parole hearings on signs of rehabilitation rather than the severity of the original crime.
State lawmakers have announced a deal to overhaul New York’s parole system to limit when parolees could be re-jailed. The move comes days after THE CITY revealed the April deaths of two men sent back to jail for low-level arrests.
“New York’s parole system is broken, biased, and expensive, and from Brooklyn to Buffalo, New Yorkers agree that it is past time we enact commonsense reforms,” said NYUJ executive director Alexander Horwitz.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs and Zachary Katznelson
Special to the USA TODAY Network
View Comments
No New Yorker wants to hear that our state is the worst in the country on any issue. Yet for six years running, no other state has locked up as many people for “technical” parole rules violations, like missing appointments with parole officers or being late for curfew.
There is no excuse for New York to be mired in last place with a unified legislature, a governor who prides himself on getting things done and a pathway for reform that has been tried and tested in other states.