Albany Agenda
Policy
Lawmakers propose alternative to Hochul's discovery changes as budget negotiations drag on
Legislators want to codify a court decision that clarified parts of the law while prosecutors are backing the governor’s proposal.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Dismiss the governor’s discovery proposals
Prosecutors’ concerns about unwarranted case dismissals may be reasonable, but the governor’s proposed changes to the discovery law are not.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Fixing the double standard that silences survivors of sexual abuse in prison
The Fair Access to Justice Act would let survivors bring lawsuits against the state even if they cannot remember the precise time, date and location of their abuse.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Supporting Hochul's proposed changes to the discovery law
A call for balanced justice
Immigration
Policy
Immigrant advocates demand local jails stop working with ICE
The Dignity Not Detention Act would ban New York jails and prisons from contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Policy
Policy
Survivor groups split over Hochul’s proposed changes to discovery laws
After a number of organizations representing survivors of sexual and domestic violence called on lawmakers to support the governor’s proposal, other survivor groups called on lawmakers to reject it.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Discovery rollbacks indulge prosecutors at the expense of New Yorkers
An argument against proposed legislation reducing the amount of information that prosecutors are required to disclose.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: We must address the mental health care needs of people leaving Rikers
The current system is deeply broken, and we are failing our city by failing to provide pathways to effective treatment post-incarceration.
Immigration
Policy
Nassau enters controversial ‘task force’ agreement with ICE
The Long Island county’s police department is working with federal immigration officials under a type of agreement that was banned during the Obama administration.
Policy
Policy
Advocates for domestic violence survivors back Hochul’s proposed discovery changes
Groups that support survivors of domestic and sexual violence are asking lawmakers to approve controversial changes to the state’s discovery laws that are favored by prosecutors and opposed by criminal justice reformers.
Albany Agenda
Policy
Assembly and state Senate release ‘one-house’ state budget proposals
The Legislature’s budget proposals differ from the governor’s executive budget proposal when it comes to discovery reform, involuntary commitment and rebate checks.
Policy
Policy
DOCCS commissioner: Prison strike is over
Most of the corrections officers who took part in the unsanctioned strike have returned to work, and those who continued to strike have been fired.
Policy
Policy
Elder Parole bill gains majority support in state Senate
At a time of turbulence for New York’s prisons, a long-sought criminal justice reform measure now has enough support to pass the upper chamber – on paper, at least.
Criminal Justice
Policy
HALT law suspension continues under prison strike agreement
The agreement calls for the head of the state prison agency to continue waiving certain elements of the law, which limits the use of solitary confinement, for at least another 90 days.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: The murder of Robert Brooks as a catalyst for clemency
With abuse rampant in state prisons, why won’t the governor release grant clemency to people who are clearly rehabilitated?
News & Politics
Politics
Advocacy groups say state prison agency can’t halt law limiting solitary confinement
The commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision released a memo last week announcing that certain provisions of the HALT Solitary Confinement law would be suspended.
New York State
Politics
Wildcat prison strikes continue upstate
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the head of the state corrections department are trying to use a combination of carrots and sticks to get corrections officers back to work.
News & Politics
Politics
Trump administration sues NY over ‘Green Light’ law
The 2019 law lets undocumented immigrants get driver’s licenses and prevents federal immigration authorities from accessing DMV data without a warrant.
Albany Agenda
Politics
Criminal justice groups, public defenders start campaign to defend discovery law
As Gov. Kathy Hochul and district attorneys push to weaken the 2019 law, advocates have launched a new website highlighting the law’s benefits.
Opinion
Opinion