PDF FAMM Explains: Commutation in Pennsylvania
This infographic explains the commutation process in Pennsylvania.
Second Chances Resource Library
The Second Chances Resource Library contains resources related to expanding release opportunities
for people in prison who are serving long sentences or have other circumstances warranting release
Found 332 resources
PDF American Prison-Release Systems: Indeterminacy in Sentencing and the Control of Prison Population Size
For those concerned about mass incarceration, serious attention should be paid to the prison-release frameworks at the back ends of American sentencing systems. These are varied and are often highly complex. In each state, it is important to consider the institutional structure for release decisions, how and by whom time-served discretion is currently being exercised, and the range of possibilities for future changes in existing decision patterns (in both desirable and unwanted directions). Not all, but a large portion of the nation’s prison policy is implicated. In recent years, much of the mass incarceration debate has been focused on “front-end” decision-makers such as judges and prosecutors. For a comprehensive slate of possible reforms, equal attention must be directed to the back end.
This project offers new conceptual tools to better understand and compare the wide range of prison-release systems across America. We hope this will allow state officials to see their own systems in new perspective, and may shine a spotlight on policy options that would otherwise go unseen. It grows out of an ambitious project to examine the prison-release frameworks of 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal system.
PDF Judges should be able to take a ‘second look’ at prison sentencing
This opinion piece calls on Congress and state legislatures to adopt broad “second look” sentencing laws.
LINK Sentencing Second Chances: Addressing Excessive Sentencing with Escape Valves
Sentencing Second Chances: Addressing Excessive Sentencing with Escape Valves, panel at Aleph Institute’s Rewriting the Sentence Summit, June 18th, 2019
Professor Douglas Berman (Moderator) – Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Hon. Marilyn Mosby – State’s Attorney, Baltimore, MD
Arthur Rizer – Justice Policy Director, R Street
LINK Second Chances Symposium: First Person Perspectives: The Experience of Receiving a Second Chance
Speakers:
- Leslie Mayfield, Second Chances Advocate, Zion, IL
- Joshua Boyer, Second Chances Advocate, Hopwood & Singhal, Washington, DC
- Tewkunzi Green, Second Chances Advocate, Illinois Prison Project, Chicago, IL
- Anthony Jones, Second Chances Advocate, Illinois Prison Project, Chicago, IL
- Dwayne White, Second Chances Advocate, Zion, IL
This panel took place on February 18, 2022.
LINK Second Chances Symposium: Fighting for and Winning Federal Clemency and Compassionate Release
Speakers:
- Larry Kupers, Former Federal Pardon Attorney, Washington, DC
- Len Goodman, Criminal Defense Attorney, Chicago, IL
- Shon Hopwood, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
- JaneAnne Murray, Professor of Practice & Director of Clemency Project, University of Minnesota Law School
- Huma Rashid, Clemency Attorney, Aleph Institute
This panel took place on February 18, 2022.
LINK Second Chances Symposium: State of the States on Clemency: A Conversation Among Practitioners
Speakers:
- Jennifer Soble, Founder & Executive Director, Illinois Prison Project
- Steven Drizin, William M. Trumbull Clinical Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
- Ben Finholt, Director, Just Sentencing Project, Duke Law
- David Singleton, Executive Director, The Ohio Justice & Policy Center
- Steve Zeidman, Professor & Director, Criminal Defense Clinic, CUNY School of Law
This panel took place on February 18, 2022.
LINK Second Chances Symposium: State and Federal Clemency: Past, Present, and Future
Speakers:
- Judith Miller, Clinical Professor of Law, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
- Mark Osler, Professor and Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law
- Shanna Rifkin, Deputy General Counsel, FAMM, Chicago, IL
- Michael Romano, Director, Three Strikes Project, Stanford Law School
This panel took place February 18, 2022.
LINK Second Chances Symposium: Welcome & Medical Compassionate Release: What’s Working and What’s Not
Speakers:
- Alison Siegler, Clinical Professor of Law & Founding Director, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
- Erica Zunkel, Clinical Professor of Law & Associate Director, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
- Jennifer Soble, Founder & Executive Director, Illinois Prison Project
- Alison Guernsey, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director, Federal Criminal Defense Clinic, University of Iowa School of Law
- Vida Johnson, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
- Mira De Jong, Staff Attorney, Illinois Prison Project
- Amy Kimpel, Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Instruction and Director, Criminal Defense Clinic, University of Alabama Law School
This panel took place on February 17, 2022.
PDF Pennsylvania: Second Chances Agenda: Expand Clemency
This document summarizes the need for expanded clemency in Pennsylvania and offers solutions to the problem.