Today The Sentencing Project released a comprehensive analysis of a growing, powerful tool to curb mass incarceration: second look policies that enable extreme sentences to be re-evaluated. The report, A Second Look at Injustice, reveals that a remarkable 25 states have recently introduced such legislation to review long sentences and reforms have advanced in jurisdictions across the country. These reforms could significantly shrink the prison population and tackle its racial disparities. Inspired by the success of an earlier law that freed people sentenced to long prison terms in their youth, Washington, DC recently passed the groundbreaking Second Look Amendment Act to expand release opportunities to people convicted under the age of 25. Thanks to the District’s new law, supported by DC Attorney General Karl Racine, up to 29 percent of imprisoned people will eventually be eligible for resentencing — impacting over 1,000 people. The report also highlights California’s prosecutor-initiated sentencing reviews, including the far-reaching reforms implemented by newly elected District Attorney George Gascón. In New York, where COVID has revealed the shortcomings of medical parole and commutations, advocates have garnered support from Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez for their ongoing campaign to create a second look at imprisoned elderly individuals. The Sentencing Project recommends that states and the federal government institute a sentence review process after people have served 10 years in prison. The sentencing review, overseen by an independent panel or judge, would account for individuals’ rehabilitation during incarceration, the appropriateness of the sentence length, and assesses the impact of release on public safety. In the era of mass incarceration, lawmakers and prosecutors have dealt out unnecessarily harsh punishments to millions of people who are largely Black and Latinx. Tens of thousands of people in prisons pose little threat to public safety, but have no hope of getting released. Second look reforms enable reconsideration of sentences now recognized as unjust and ineffective, allowing better investments to promote public safety. |
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