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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.
This legislation will ensure that New Yorkers with substance use challenges, mental health concerns, and other disabilities are provided an opportunity to obtain treatment and support in their communities through participation in expanded and modernized treatment courts. Jail and prison are known to increase recidivism, whereas treatment courts decrease the risk of re-arrest and end the cycle of incarceration, crisis, and re-arrest.
This off-ramp from the criminal legal system offered is a significant step toward ending the revolving door of incarceration by finally addressing one of the drivers of arrest and legal system involvement. We must stop relying on jails and prisons to address New York’s public health crisis and instead invest in community-based treatment and services.
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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.