Governor Malloy Announces Criminal Justice Reforms at Yale Law School

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy held a press conference today to announce his “Second Chance Society” initiatives. New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and Jacob Hacker, director of Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science, also spoke. The press conference was well attended by local politicians, members of law enforcement, Yale Law School students, and other members of the community.

Malloy proposed changes in five key areas of criminal justice: reclassifying certain nonviolent offenses, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug possession, streamlining the parole system, streamlining the pardons system, and creating job and housing opportunities for ex-offenders. The initiatives build upon recent progress reducing crime rates and prison populations in Connecticut.

“We cannot perpetually be a punitive society. We have to do better in Connecticut. We have to become a 'second chance society' where we don’t permanently punish nonviolent offenders, swelling our prisons and creating lifetime criminals out of people who made a mistake,” Malloy said. The governor will make further announcements in the coming days of executive actions about these initiatives.

Read more about the details of Governor Malloy’s proposals.