Justice advocates push for reconciliation commission

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist, Staff Writer

Social justice advocates led by Albany’s Center for Law & Justice will deliver 10,000 petition signatures to Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday calling on the governor to establish a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to study the impacts of mass incarceration on New Yorkers.

The commission is inspired by the one used by South Africa in the wake of the collapse of its apartheid segregation policies, and the petition drive began after the December death of former South African president and anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela, said Alice Green, the center’s executive director.

Green said the goal is to create a venue to explore the ways the state’s drug policies and justice system generally have lead to high incarceration rates and, in effect, legal discrimination against those with criminal records — especially within the black and Latino communities.


http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/212939/social-justice-advocates-push-for-study-of-mass-incarceration/