Bills for Sealing Criminal Convictions in New York State

[Johnny Leary]

Rick Collins, the attorney who's been working with the NY Bar Association to pass legislation that would allow sealing old criminal convictions in NYS posted this on the Facebook page dedicated to our cause yesterday:

"I am in touch with news sources seeking personal stories about how a non-violent criminal conviction hurts opportunities in employment, housing or education even many years later. Anyone who would like to publicly share their experiences to raise awareness for this cause should feel free to inbox me (some reporters will print first names only). The chance to build public support is now."

This is our chance to finally get mainstream media coverage of this tragedy, which is being allowed to continue to happen. A lot of you have great stories that you've already shared on here; if you'd consider sharing them with Rick and/or the press, it'd really help our cause. If you're worried about divulging your name, it's no problem to check with him beforehand if you only want your first name used (or possibly even to remain anonymous). You can private message him through his Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/rickcollinsesq



Please check out our Change.org online petition at the link below. It supports New York Bills A1139 & S682 the "Second Chance Law" for Sealing New York State Criminal Convictions. First go to "Petition Letter". If you agree with it, sign then pass it on to everyone you know. We really can use everyone's help. Thanks!

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-...victionsrecord

Also, please "Like" our Facebook group dedicated to this cause. It can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Yo...55682704460158

[dalpe2379]

Johnny,

I was wondering who my district representatives are. I have a new letter I drafted and I want to get it out to as many people as possible that could vote on this bill. Even making a personal appearance if need be. I was thinking about submitting a package to the Governor for a pardon (Letter, transcripts, recommendations, DD214, employment verification, etc.) in the meantime. I did send my letter via facebook message to Rick Collins, maybe I can send him some more correspondence if I had his address. Can you help me out on that? Thanks. Do you think this has a good chance of being passed? Look forward to hearing from you...

[Johnny Leary]

Hi Dalpe, the sole reason that these bills were held up was because of the NY District Attorney's Association. You can find the reason here:

http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/Pub...rds&slreturn=1

"Before the House of Delegates acted, Janet DiFiore, the Westchester County district attorney who is president of the state District Attorneys Association, wrote to the state bar that she and other prosecutors had several concerns about the proposal and the bills before the Legislature.

She said a sealing law could open up "seemingly unlimited" opportunities for sealing conviction records in a "vast number" of cases, creating an undue strain on the courts and district attorneys' offices as they respond to burdensome motion practice."


A user on our Facebook group actually wrote in to Janet DiFiore and he posted that he received an encouraging hand-written letter back in response. He suggested that we all write in to explain how their stance is hurting New Yorkers, both emotionally and financially. They can be contacted here:

District Attorneys Association of the State of New York

http://www.daasny.org/index.html

Janet DiFiore
Westchester County District Attorney
111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, NY 10601

914-955-4200
914-995-3363 (fax)
jdifiore@westchesterda.net
http://www.westchesterda.net/

Alternatively, it'd also be good to show support to the NY State Bar Association's stance, so that way they know how many people are in favor of sealing or expungement legislation in New York State. It'd be best if you can write in, but I'll include the e-mail address and phone number too. In addition, they have two Facebook pages that you can "Like" to help them out:

New York State Bar Association

1 Elk Street
Albany, NY 12207
(518) 463-3200

World Wide Web address: http://www.nysba.org/

They also have 2 Facebook pages:

http://www.facebook.com/NYSBA

http://www.facebook.com/NYSBAPresident?sk=wall


Finally, to find your district's representatives go to these two websites:

http://www.nysenate.gov/senators

http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/

Go to "Find My Senator" on the NY Senate website and "Member Search" on the NY Assembly website. Just type your zip code in for both. Write in to the Senators supporting Bill # S682 and write in to the Assemblymen in support of Bill # A1139.


Please check out our Change.org online petition at the link below. It supports New York Bills A1139 & S682 the "Second Chance Law" for Sealing New York State Criminal Convictions. First go to "Petition Letter". If you agree with it, sign then pass it on to everyone you know. We really can use everyone's help. Thanks!

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-...victionsrecord

Also, please "Like" our Facebook group dedicated to this cause. It can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Yo...55682704460158

[jazzy3098]

I must say that it will be about time that NY State has a way were people who have changed there ways and are now law abiding citazens can get rid of ther past and go on with ther lifes. I for one can not wait for this law to get passed. I no longer live in NY State and were I do live I have become very involved in Politics and would love a chance to run for office and to help my new comunity grow.

[Johnny Leary]

We reached our goal of 1,000 signatures on our online petition last week! Congratulations and a big thank you to all who participated!

We put it to a vote on our Facebook group and since it was unanimous, we're going to extend the close date for as long as we can. I definitely agree this is a good idea because the more signatures we get, the more of an influence it'll have. Plus, it does attract a lot of people to our cause since it does show up on Internet searches. Last but not least, while we ultimately can't control what our state legislators do, besides calling and writing them the two things we have power over are getting people to "Like" our Facebook page and having them sign our online petition. Our next goal will be 2,000 signatures, so please keep sharing it with everyone!


Please check out our Change.org online petition at the link below. It supports New York Bills A1139 & S682 the "Second Chance Law" for Sealing New York State Criminal Convictions. First go to "Petition Letter". If you agree with it, sign then pass it on to everyone you know. We really can use everyone's help. Thanks!

http://www.change.org/petitions/new-...ictions-record

Also, please "Like" our Facebook group dedicated to this cause. It can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/New...55682704460158

[Johnny Leary]

All right folks, here's the update:

The bad news first, we only have a month left in this year's legislative session and it looks like we won't get any sealing/expungement legislation passed this year.

The good news is that it's an election year and someone with our lobbying group spoke to Senator Sampson and here's what he said in regards to the sealing bill:

"The only way this bill will get passed is if the dems take control of the state senate.

What we need to try to do is help raise money for the dems for the November election. Right now the dems are down by 3 seats, and the redistricting. The positive news is that there are some vulnerable republicans on Long Island that can lose, and he believes they will regain the recently lost Brooklyn senate seat by Lewis Fidler. He should regain it in November.

Now a big help would be if we can set up a thread on Facebook to raise money for the dems reelection, like how Obama did it with a minimum donation of $50 to Senator Sampson and mailed to Brooklyn office. Our goal is to try to raise $5,000 dollars. The Dems need money for the elections and on the checks to put support sealing bill with number we need to do this if can by June 30, 2012."

We don't have a lot of time to do this but what does everyone think? Would it even be doable? I know a lot of people are getting tired and fed up with the politicians in NY in our lobbying group and a lot of people have grown weary. Are any of you interested or should we stick to the online petition and Facebook group? Please sound off!

[birdseye67]

I am interested in sending $50 to Sampson in order to raise money. The question I have is, I'm hearing rumors that he might lose his seat as the Democratic leader. Should we still send money?

[Johnny Leary]

As we all know, in order of having any chance of getting a sealing/expungement bill passed in NY we need the Democrats to get the majority back in the state senate. To do that they need to win at least two seats on Long Island. Senator Sampson is in charge of doing this.

We were at first reluctant to recommend sending donations because there are rumors that Senator Sampson might lose his seat as the Democratic leader. However, now we're hearing that even if that happens it still won't affect our cause. Just so long as the Dems take the Senate, the bill is still very viable; in fact, probably a more expansive bill would come about. Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson also put out a bill that would include more eligible offenses this year. If the Dems win, a sealing/expungement bill will pass, but at this point no one is sure which one. Nevertheless, it would be a good solid bill.

With that said, we're now giving the following recommendation: Please donate to Senator Sampson's campaign for re-election. We're recommending $50. Don't forget (and this is very important) to include a note or letter requesting him to push for bills that would allow the sealing or expungement of old New York criminal convictions to be passed into law and please state that the check is also for the reelection of NYS Democrats to regain the majority in the Senate.

They can be sent to:

Committee to Re-Elect Senator John Sampson
C/O Lisa Lashley
386 Sterling Place
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Please make the checks out to the "Committee to Re-Elect Senator John Sampson".


If you do this, please notify one of the moderators of our cause (by either posting on this thread or sending a private message to me or Equality), because we're going to try to keep track of how much money was sent in on our behalf. This way, we can use it for leverage in our upcoming lobbying season when the next legislative session begins (only this time hopefully with the Dems on top since it's an election year).

This was a tough choice, but we're not going to get an opportunity like this again for a while, so we might as well go for it.

[equality]

The republican seats that are vulnerable are the following Kemp Hannon, James Lavalle, senator martin, Jim alesi greg Ball, and Mike grisanti, and senator Liebous. This should give everyone hope. I would start to send donations and also promote their opponents you can just google it and their opponents come up. we need 2 seats only. it would be nice to get three. we must voting is even more important then donations

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Also please send letters starting this week to Kings county DA Joe Hynes asking for his support for sealing, and explain that the person applying for sealing would pay an administrative fee. he is not 1005 for bill because he feels it would cost state money we need his support or at least for him to be neutral. Also be relentless on sending letters to new president elect of DA association new york county da cyrus vance. you have to move. the bills will not pass this year but could if dems take over next year. what we have been doing since 2009 is setting the ground work. it is 3 years too long for people affected by a conviction but not long for a bill such as this one to pass. it took the rockfeller sealing bill 10 years to pass. once the dems got in it passed. I don't expect this taking ten years. i think society's views are more towards privacy and second chances.

[birdseye67]

In response to Johnny Leary's request, I have sent $50 to Sampson last week. I want to send letters to Joe Hynes and cyrus vance office as well. However I'm having trouble finding their address. Equality, could you please send me the address when you get the chance? Thanks.