Gov. Cuomo issuing pardons to former juvenile offenders

On Sunday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York stated that he would seek out and pardon thousands of people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes as teenagers, but have since led law-abiding lives.

Cuomo signed pardons for 10,000 former juvenile offenders in order, he says, to allow them to leave their past off applications for employment and credit. According to the governor, provisional pardon offenders, who were under 18 at the time of their arrest, will have their past records of small-time offenses erased after a decade, as long as they are not convicted of any other crime in the meantime.

The New York Democrat said that the offenders with misdemeanor and nonviolent felony convictions at age 16 or 17 will get pardons with no subsequent crime. The governor’s office plans to carry out an outreach, beginning with those convicted in 2004, who will be invited to apply through a state website, and working backwards. “They were young and made a mistake,” Cuomo told WNYC radio. “Don’t give them a hardship their entire life.”

In a phone interview, Mr. Cuomo stated that his plan would give second chances to generations of once-youthful offenders who had long since abandoned their criminal lives but continue to be dogged by their criminal past. Cuomo told WNYC radio that most of the pardons will affect juveniles with small offense drug cases. He insisted that young people can make mistakes, but those blunders shouldn’t mean lifelong hardships that stop them from getting credit or applying for a job

“It’s a way to help people get on with their life,” said Mr. Cuomo, adding that his plan would act as a reward for good behavior and a chance at redemption. “When you’re young you can make a mistake, and maybe you don’t have to carry the burden for your entire life.”

However, the Democratic governor does not support completely removing the question of past offenses from job applications, he said that it removes the right of employers to protect themselves.

The Raise the Age Campaign, like Cuomo, advocates raising the age of criminal responsibility in New York from 16 to 18 by law. According to The Raise the Age Campaign, youths charged and convicted as adults have higher rates of new offenses. The group praised Cuomo’s unilateral decision Monday to grant pardons.

“Reducing collateral consequences for young adults who served their time and have become law abiding citizens is critical for ensuring access to education and employment as well as housing options,” the campaign said in a joint statement from Melanie Hartzog, of the Children’s Defense Fund-New York, and Jennifer March, of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr on Sunday called the governor’s pardon plan “a bold proposal with laudable goals.” The pardons, he said, might eliminate barriers to employment and would certainly give many people “a chance to go forward in their lives with a clean slate and achieve their maximum potential.”

Mr. Cuomo, a centrist who has often worked closely with Republicans, has recently enacted several liberal policies via executive action, including raising wages for state employees. “You do what you can with the powers you have,” he said. “And this is within my power.”