James Cohen was quoted in a Politico article about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan to conditionally pardon 10,000 individuals who committed nonviolent felonies or misdemeanors in their teens.
Jim Cohen, a professor at Fordham Law School, is skeptical of the governor’s plan, saying that it won’t affect as many people as the Cuomo administration says.
“I’m sure there are some people it would cover, don’t get me wrong. Some people fall through the cracks … I’m not saying it will affect nobody,” he said, but it will not affect “a whole lot of people.”
Cuomo, Cohen said, was grasping at “the low-hanging fruit on a short tree” when it came to criminal justice reforms, saying that granting pardons to people who were convicted as teenagers and reforming the solitary confinement system in prisons is nothing groundbreaking.
“This sounds like the classic politician’s action,” he said. “It’s just talk.”