Gov. Andrew Cuomo will offer pardons to thousands of young people who committed crimes in New York state, he announced Monday. New York is one of only two states in the nation to try 16-and 17-year-olds as adults and now the governor is offering a path for those convicted of non-violent crimes under the age of 18 to receive a pardon.
The executive action comes after he failed to get a bill through the legislature earlier this year that would have raised the age when teens can be tried as adults.
Continuing to flex his executive powers, Cuomo is planning to offer pardons to New Yorkers who were convicted of non-violent crimes at the ages of 16 and 17, and have spent the last 10 years living a crime-free life. Roughly 10,000 people will be affected.
Cuomo called into NY1 Monday morning to explain that the change is not like clemencies or pardons typically offered by governors around the holidays.
"This is establishing a new policy with really a different goal," Cuomo said. "First, this nation needs to take a step back and really revisit our criminal justice system."
New York and North Carolina are currently the only two states in the nation to try 16- and 17-year-olds in the adult criminal justice system which begins almost everywhere else in the nation at age 18.
Cuomo's executive action comes several months after he failed to get state Senate Republicans to support the "Raise the Age" campaign in Albany, which was legislation to raise the age of criminal liability in New York to 18.
Cuomo denied he is circumventing the legislature.
"It's not getting around the legislature," he said. "An executive, be it the president, a governor you have executive power where you can do certain things on your own."
Advocates say they will continue to support a bill to raise the age.
"We think this is a really great step that shows the governor's commitment to criminal justice reform," said Samantha Levine, of the Children's Defense Fund. "And we are really hopeful that he will continue his support for comprehensive Raise The Age legislation."
Critics say the governor's action is limited in its scope.
"It's limited, right? So there is a pool of 10,000 people," said Glenn Martinm of Just Leadership USA. "But he did limit it to people who are paid up on their taxes. People who have non-violent convictions. And people who have had 10 years of staying out of trouble since then. And that raises the bar pretty high."
In June, Cuomo promised to remove 16- and 17-year-olds from adult prisons where they are more likely to face abuse. He has yet to take any executive action to make that change.