The Legal Aid Society praised Governor Kathy Hochul for signing legislation (S.282/A.6769) that allows New Yorkers to re-apply for youthful offender status if they were previously denied it, as reported by Spectrum News.

Youthful offender status allows crimes committed before the age of 19 to be converted from criminal convictions to confidential non-criminal judgments. The distraction is critical as past criminal records can create a stigma that impedes access to employment and even housing.

“Youth should not have to shoulder the consequences of a criminal conviction for a lifetime, and these punitive laws only hurt our communities rather than keeping them safe,” said Tina Luongo Attorney-in-Charge of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.  “Creating lifelong barriers for behavior that has been shown, for the most part, to be time-limited is an unnecessarily harsh consequence for young people and fails to support true community safety.”