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NYS Parolees are Granted the Right to Vote!

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Wednesday that he intends to restore voting rights to felons on parole, a move that could open the ballot box to more than 35,000 people.

The mechanism through which Mr. Cuomo plans to do so is unusual: He would consider pardons for all 35,000 people currently on parole in New York, as well as any new convicted felons who enter the parole system each month.

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Pennsylvania State court is locking up defendants too poor to pay court fines!

Spotlighting disparities in jail stays over unpaid court fines in Pennsylvania

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A helpful reader made sure I saw this impressive piece of reporting from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazetteunder the headline “Modern-day debtors’ prisons? The system that sends Pennsylvanians to jail over unpaid court costs and fines.”  I have probably not given as much attention here as I should to reporting and complaints about persons being incarcerated for failure to pay certain fines and fees, and this story caught my attention in its discussion of disparities in how judges justify sending folks to jail for failures to pay.  Here is an excerpt for that discussion:

U.S. Supreme Court and state court precedents forbid the government from locking up defendants too poor to pay.  District judges are supposed to jail only defendants who can afford to pay but “willfully” do not.  “The Constitution is very clear, the law is very clear, you cannot be jailed for failing to pay when you can’t pay,” said David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

But data show that is not always what happens.

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This week, Governor Cuomo outlined his FY2019 New York State Budget.

GOVERNOR’S PROPOSALS
  • Governor’s full budget presentation (online video) – available here
  • Governor’s full FY 2019 Executive Budget Briefing Book and executive budget legislation
  • Criminal Justice Reform Package: Check out this link to the Article VII bill that includes the criminal justice reform package, including bail, speedy trial, and discovery legislative language (bail on pages 19-52, speedy trial on pages 8-18, discovery on pages 52-82). This Article VII Memorandum in Support has brief summaries of these bills on pages 6-10.