Brooklyn DA's Office Rethinking Parole Requests

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- Inmates requesting release at parole board meetings will face less opposition from the Brooklyn District Attorney's office as part of Eric Gonzalez' efforts to decrease mass incarceration.

The District Attorney's office has launched a Post-Conviction Justice Bureau which will review parole requests to determine if inmates should be released, Gonzalez announced Wednesday. This represents a stark change in previous prosecutorial policy, which Gonzalez described as "automatically and reflexively" opposing release.

"If we want to decrease mass incarceration, as I am committed to doing, we cannot only be forward thinking," Gonzalez said. "We must also look at the past and give people second chances."

The Post-Conviction Justice Bureau will contain three units: a Parole and Clemency Unit charged with reviewing parole requests, a Sealing Unit to help Brooklynites seal past criminal convictions and a conviction review unit to investigate former cases that might be eligible for vacating.

The Parole and Clemency Unit will train assistant district attorneys on drafting parole recommendations based on new default positions:

• Those who pleaded guilty and have clean prison records should generally be released at the first parole.
• Juveniles facing a life sentence should receive a thorough investigation into how they have matured in prison.
• Probation for general misdemeanor crimes will be decreased from five years to three.
• Post-release supervision for general crimes will be the minimum.

The Post-Conviction Justice Bureau will also study how to address and decrease excessive sentences as well as developing legislative solutions for post-conviction justice.

“Our obligation to do justice and to strengthen community trust in the criminal justice system does not end when a conviction becomes final," said Gonzalez.

"I believe we need to go even farther in taking second looks and considering second chances."