To the Editor:

Re “A New York Law Could Bring Hope to Prisoners Like Me,” by Joseph Sanchez (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 11):

Mr. Sanchez makes a compelling case for so-called Second Look legislation that affords people serving long sentences the opportunity to show that they have done everything possible to atone and change, and that recognizes and values redemption.

In the meantime, there already exists a powerful but vastly underused Second Look mechanism: The New York State Constitution gives the governor unfettered power to grant clemency in the form of a sentence commutation. The governor’s website provides that clemency applicants must demonstrate that they have made exceptional strides in self-development and improvement.

Surely, with 32,000 people in New York State prisons there are many people who meet, and surpass, that threshold. Ultimately, both Second Look legislation and clemency address the reality that a sentence once imposed — even if seemingly appropriate at the time it was handed down — does not remain just, necessary and appropriate in perpetuity.

Steven ZeidmanQueensThe writer is a professor and the director of the Second Look Project at CUNY Law School.

To the Editor:

As Joseph Sanchez writes, New York must pass Second Look legislation that will provide a mechanism and clear guidance for courts to revisit sentences imposed decades earlier.

As co-directors of a project dedicated to achieving resentencing for people who committed their offenses when young and have served decades in prison, we are frequently humbled and inspired by our clients’ deep introspection into the harm they caused, along with their evolution and growth despite the brutal conditions of incarceration. Their transformative arc confirms exactly what the neuroscience says: Children and young adults have an incredible capacity for change.

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