A lot of people prohibited from gun ownership will now able to buy guns. And one more reason you don't need to worry about crimes you commit as a minor.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday he would seek to pardon thousands of people convicted of nonviolent crimes as teenagers in an attempt to remove a major obstacle to securing employment, housing and education.
The executive action stems from Cuomo's broader "Raise the Age Campaign," an effort to change New York law that requires 16- and 17-year-old criminal defendants to be tried as adults.
New York is one of only two states, along with North Carolina, that prosecutes all 16-year-olds as adults.
Cuomo said he would invite anyone who was convicted of a nonviolent felony or misdemeanor at age 16 or 17 to apply for pardons, as long as they have remained crime-free for 10 years.ADVERTISING
Monday, December 21, 2015
Taking Away Incentives To Behave
From 12/21/15 Reuters:
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I think I now know were this kid is running to. The young man who got only 10 years probation for running down four people because of his affluenza.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article50071990.html
He will be safe in Cumo's arms, his mother however- thats a different issue.
I wouldn't quite say that. One has to stay straight for ten years to qualify; that's an incentive to behave, which would not exist if the ban is permanent.
ReplyDeleteBut if you spend your teen years acting on your every wild impulse, where will the magic fount of adult self control come from at age 18? Self control is kind of like a muscle; it must be excercised often to be strong.
ReplyDeleteKeeping one's record clean for ten years to earn a pardon is a good incentive to build that muscle and learn, which the automatic sealing of one's record at 18 can never accomplish.
Maybe seal the record at 18 as now and unseal it at age 28 if further crimes are committed. Or maybe limit juvenile court to crimes that were commonly committed by juveniles when the court was formed, and save murder and such for the full-powered court. After all, people know by about age 8 that killing others and stealing is wrong.