The Legal Aid Society filed a joint amicus brief to argue that the New York Parole Board must consider youth at the time of offense as a mitigating factor favoring an incarcerated person’s release. In Miller v. Alabama and Graham v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court categorically struck down life without parole sentences for non-homicide crimes and prohibited mandatory life without parole sentences for juvenile homicide offenders. The Parole Board’s denial of youth as a relevant mitigating factor for incarcerated New Yorkers flew directly against the Supreme Court’s holding that, because of differences culpability and potential for growth between juvenile and adult offenders, the Constitution affords youth a greater “opportunity to retain released based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation” than adults.

In April 2016, the Appellate Division ruled decisively that the Parole Board erred when it failed to consider the significance of an individual’s youth and its attendant circumstances at the time of his crime before making a parole determination, as required by Miller and Graham.