November 21, 2024
Second Look Project NY Co-Director Steve Zeidman was a panelist alongside Hon. Frederic Block, Senior Federal Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York; Thomas Gant, Advocacy & Community Organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives, Inc.; Mujahideen Muhammad, Founder of The Pillars of Promise; David Singleton, Associate Professor at D.C. School of Law; and Jennifer Soble, Executive Director at the Illinois Prison Project. The panel discussed judicial and legislative remedies to New York’s outdated sentencing laws.
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Op-ed by Gregory Mingo, Vera Institute, May 14, 2024.
While I applaud New York Governor Kathy Hochul for transitioning to a system of granting clemency on an ongoing basis, rather than just once at the end of each year, I would like to challenge our governor and representatives to see the advantages of going further during this legislative session. We need to do more to expand clemency—both pardons and commuted sentences—for the benefits it provides for everyone, not only for incarcerated people themselves, but for their families and communities, as well as for state budgets and society. The United States metes out some of the longest prison sentences in the world. Here, we unconscionably sentence teenagers to life in prison. We allow people in their older years, including those who are critically ill, to remain in prison long past the time they could pose any threat to others.
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Report by New York State Justice Task Force, January 2024.
“In this report, the Task Force turns its attention to sentencing reform, specifically ‘Second Look’ reforms that enable courts to review and reevaluate an incarcerated person’s sentence after the completion of the appellate process and after a period of time served to determine if the sentence is still necessary and in the interests of justice.
Second Look aims to remedy the effects of ‘tough on crime’ sentencing laws that, over the past several decades, have disproportionally impacted Black and Brown communities and have resulted in dramatic increases in sentence lengths for defendants of color.
Second Look allows incarcerated individuals serving lengthy sentences to apply for a judge to review and reconsider their sentences after a period of time served. These reassessments promote the interests of justice, relieve the prison system of costly incarceration that fails to serve public safety, and provide those who have rehabilitated themselves an opportunity to reunite with their loved ones and reenter the community. Importantly, Second Look also reduces racial disparities in sentencing.
For these reasons, after careful deliberation and study, the Task Force concluded overwhelmingly to endorse Second Look reform. As explained in greater detail below, in addition to supporting the concept of Second Look review, the Task Force endorsed 15 recommendations regarding the scope, elements, and process of a Second Look review.
In particular, the Task Force recommends that:
- Multiple stakeholders, including the incarcerated individual, the original
prosecutor’s office, the original sentencing court, the Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision, the Board of Parole, and the
Attorney General, should all be able to apply for a Second Look review;
- Once initiated, the Second Look application should be assigned to the
original sentencing court judge or the court in which the sentencing took
place if the specific judge is unavailable;
- In reviewing a Second Look application, an “interest of justice” standard
should be applied;
- An incarcerated individual should have the right to counsel in both the filing of a Second Look application and any subsequent hearing that takes place on such application;
- There should be no exception to a Second Look review based upon an
incarcerated individual’s age at the time of the offense;
- There should likewise be no exception to a Second Look review based upon an incarcerated individual’s age at the time of application;
- An incarcerated individual should serve a minimum of five years of their
sentence before becoming eligible to apply for a Second Look review;
- That five-year waiting period, however, should not apply if the Second
Look review is initiated by the original prosecutor’s office;
- There should be no exceptions to Second Look review eligibility based on
the offense committed;
- The right to initiate a Second Look review should not be waivable as part
of a plea bargain;
- The court should have discretion in issuing a reduced sentence after
considering a Second Look application;
- Victims should be given notice of a court’s consideration of a Second Look application, if not summarily denied, and be given the ability to submit a written statement or make an oral statement at any hearing;
- Upon denial of a Second Look application, there should be a right to appeal;
- Upon denial of a Second Look application and the exhaustion of appeals,
an application should be able to be submitted again after two years, but this waiting period should not apply to the original prosecutor’s office seekinga Second Look review; and
- On an annual basis, the appropriate State agencies should provide data to
both the prosecutor’s office and defense counsel of record of incarcerated
individuals meeting the above criteria for Second Look review.”
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Op-ed by Steve Zeidman, New York Daily News, January 14, 2024.
New York State has its own crisis of mass incarceration. There are more than 32,000 people, disproportionately people of color, in state prison. More than 2,700 are at least 60 years old. More than 6,500 are serving life sentences. While scholars and advocates call for maximum sentences of 20 years, New York’s prisons hold almost 7,000 people serving sentences with 20-year minimums.
New York law, however, does contain a humane, though under-utilized, off ramp for people facing criminal charges. The law explicitly permits a judge to dismiss charges “in the interests of justice” even if the charges are supported by the facts and… Read more >>
By Rachel Rippetoe of Law360 on May 5, 2023
On the last Monday in April, Bruce Bryant woke up in his cell in New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility one final time. Hours later, he’d watch the large brick building, perched on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, fade from the rearview window of his family’s car as they drove him home after nearly three decades in prison.
For Bryant, who was granted clemency by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December and paroled in February, it was a day that came after years of work. He first applied for clemency in 2019, with a packet of more than 300 pages of recommendation letters from nonprofit leaders around New York State, a pastor and even a prison warden, all singing Bryant’s praises. Steve Zeidman, director of the Second Look Project at the City University of New York School of Law, called him “the poster child for clemency.” But three Christmases came and went, and he remained incarcerated for a murder he has always maintained he didn’t commit.
The hope that had kept Bryant alive all those years in prison came to fruition on April 24, 2023. The day was more than just a homecoming: It was the day Bruce Bryant died, and Bruce Bryan was reborn.
The “t” at the end of Bryan’s name was a clerical error, tacked onto his surname when it was entered into the system in 1993. He was 24 years old. Now at 53, he’s ready to shed the name that New York State gave him.
“We’re the Bryans — they took that from him, but now we’re getting it back,” Bryan’s sister Jestina Collins said as she shed joyful tears at his homecoming celebration that Monday at a buzzing recreation center in Brooklyn. “It’s over. It’s happiness forever now.” Read more >>
