By Ray Tierney
With the budget fight over, New York’s progressive legislators are now pushing a trio of bills — the Second Look Act, Elder Parole, and the Earned Time Act — that will fling open prison doors, putting thousands of violent criminals back on our streets. These measures, cloaked as compassionate reforms, prioritize criminals over the security of law-abiding New Yorkers and, in the process, once again drag grieving families and victims into a never-ending cycle of parole hearings and reconsideration of previously imposed sentences, for the sole purpose of drastically reducing sentences for violent, dangerous offenders. If passed, the sentences of violent offenders will be cut in half. These reduced sentences will result in more violent crime, and strip judges of tools to protect communities, all while forcing victims and their families to relive their worst nightmares again and again.
The Second Look Act allows any convicted criminal who has served 10 years or half of their sentence, whichever is less, to petition a court for a reduction of their sentence. This bill, as written, does not limit how often or how many petitions may be filed. If a petition is denied, the inmate can immediately re-file and start the process over again, an infinite number of times. Excessive filings will inevitably overwhelm already strained judicial resources and the resources of prosecutors’ offices, already stretched to the point of breaking by discovery and other so-called criminal justice reforms.
We will once again have to devote non-existent resources to fight a never-ending onslaught of frivolous resentencing petitions. Courts will also be required to appoint counsel to represent the inmates on each petition, which will be funded by New York taxpayers. Although Second Look proponents focus on a very few nonviolent offenses, in reality, the bill sweeps in all of New York’s most violent and dangerous offenders. Even serial killers, cop killers and racist mass shooters (like the Buffalo Tops Supermarket Shooter) will be eligible to petition for a lower sentence reduction after serving just 10 years. Victims and their families, already scarred by violence, will have to attend re-sentencing hearings, which, even if unsuccessful, will re-open old wounds. No serious sentence will ever be final and, consequentially, no crime victim will have closure.
Any inmate who is unsuccessful in having their sentence reduced due to the Second Chance Act should not fear because New York’s progressive legislators have their back with Elder Parole. This bill grants automatic parole hearings every two years to inmates who are 55 and older, and who have served 15 years in prison, regardless of the crime they were convicted of. Murderers, rapists — even cop killers — would get a shot at freedom just for aging behind bars. This bill eliminates life without parole for serial and mass murderers. Worse, victims’ families — like those of the Buffalo Tops Supermarket racist mass murderer — would be dragged into these parole hearings and forced to relive the horror of losing loved ones every other year.
Imagine the agony of a rape victim, pleading with the parole board to keep her rapist behind bars, only to be forced to face this ordeal every other year. Supporters of this bill say that it is necessary, while once again pointing to nonviolent drug and financial crimes and deliberately ignoring the fact that most offenders incarcerated in New York State prisons past age 55 and serving 15-plus-year sentences are almost exclusively violent offenders. Again, if these legislators were concerned about nonviolent offenders, they would have drafted legislation to specifically address the sentences of such offenders, which they have not done. Instead, they attempt to use these relatively few offenders as a smoke screen, to achieve their true goal of releasing thousands of violent offenders early and en masse, public safety be damned.
The Earned Time Act is the final gut-punch to justice, effectively lowering sentences across the board for nearly all crimes in New York, by changing automatic credits to time served while in custody, as well as time earned from programs while in custody. Every inmate incarcerated for a violent crime who previously received a one-seventh reduction under existing law, will now receive one-half of their sentence off. Moreover, the bill seeks to limit correctional authorities from withholding credit for bad behavior, broken prison rules, or even the failure to fulfill the duties of a program. If that is not bad enough, once earned, good time credit cannot be revoked, no matter what egregious conduct is committed. A year spent in jail earns a six-month reduction, regardless if that same inmate subsequently assaults prison personnel, stabs another inmate or trafficks narcotics while incarcerated.
Standing alone, this measure will completely eviscerate our correctional system’s ability to maintain order and discipline and will severely endanger the lives of both corrections officers and inmates. Perhaps most egregiously, the Earned Time Act is open to all inmates unless they are serving a sentence which has a life sentence as the maximum. This will cut sentences in half for violent offenders convicted of raping or sex trafficking children, aggravated assault on a police officer, hate crime assaults and a myriad of other crimes committed by the most violent offenders.
What will happen once word reaches the street that all crimes in New York are now half-priced? Finally, this monstrosity of a bill is retroactive, meaning the prison gates will literally be opened for a flood of violent criminals to hit the streets all at once.
These three bills are a slap in the face to victims, their families, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the judiciary. Opponents of these bills hit the nail on the head when they ask: Which constituent group is screaming out for early release of such dangerous offenders? Not the cops risking their lives or the families mourning loved ones. New York is still reeling from the spike in crime from the last round of “reforms.” We can’t afford another progressive experiment that emboldens criminals and retraumatizes victims. Public safety and compassion for victims must come first.
Governor Hochul and the Legislature must reject this dangerous trio of bills. New Yorkers deserve safe streets and peace of mind, not the further dismantling of our public safety system so that criminals get a free pass and victims’ families are forced to relive their pain. Grieving families and victims deserve to not be dragged into a never-ending cycle of reconsideration of sentences and parole hearings. I urge every New Yorker — if you care about law and order, if you care about victims, if you care about public safety — please contact your legislators and ask them to oppose these dangerous bills.
Ray Tierney is the District Attorney of Suffolk County. He has been a prosecutor for over 30 years.