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Mass incarceration in New York State has a devastating impact on families and communities and the negative effects continue after time is served. The Legal Aid Society is supporting legislation to break the cycle of incarceration and perpetual punishment.
The Treatment Court Expansion Act will provide off-ramps from the revolving door of jail and prison for those who are brought into the criminal legal system due to underlying mental health and substance use issues. New York created drug courts in every county in 2009. however, the has not updated this law to include people with mental health, cognitive and intellectual diagnoses. The law should be updated to reflect best practices – and mental health treatment courts should exist, by law, in every county across the state.
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New York’s racist and draconian sentencing laws funnel thousands of New Yorkers into prisons that fail to deliver safety, healing, or justice. This reform package would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences restoring individualized judicial discretion in sentencing, allow incarcerated New Yorkers to petition judges to review excessive sentences, and create more opportunities for incarcerated New Yorkers to earn time off from their sentences by mandating expanded programming opportunities throughout the state prison system.
In 2021, New York passed legislation to restore the right to vote to people with felony convictions automatically, upon their release from prison. However, despite the right to vote being restored upon release from incarceration, people with a felony conviction are forever barred from jury service. There is no logical reason for this difference. This perpetual punishment strips an individual of their right to fully participate in our democracy and also strips jury pools of true community representation.