Comprehensive reforms to New York State’s parole system go into effect today via the Less Is More Act and The Legal Aid Society is calling on the Governor and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to ensure the bill’s provisions are fully implemented.

The legislation – which has garnered wide-ranging support from public defenders, prosecutors, criminal justice reform advocates, and impacted communities – eliminates incarceration for most minor non-criminal violations, requires prompt judicial review of parole violation charges, and places caps on revocation sanctions, and provides a path to earned discharge from supervision.

“Today is historic, but Less Is More will never live up to its promise if the Hochul Administration and the DOCCS fail to fully implement every provision of the new law, especially those ensuring that parole hearings are adjudicated in public at borough court houses, as opposed to behind closed doors in secrecy at Rikers Island,” said Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

“In the coming hours, days, weeks and months, our Parole Revocation Defense Unit, which has long provided representation to thousands of New Yorkers violated on parole and helped draft this critical legislation, will monitor implementation to ensure that our clients are afforded the justice provided by this new law.”