The New York State Parole Board denies more people of color parole when compared to their white counterparts, according to a report.
A newly released report by the New York University School of Law’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law titled Freedom Delayed, Justice Denied: Increasing Racial Disparities in New York State’s Parole Release Decisions, highlighted widening gaps in parole outcomes between people of color and white individuals during Governor Kathy Hochul’s tenure.
Some of the key findings include that the racial disparities have now worsened by 71.65% over the last three years compared with the previous six. People of color were 32.28% less likely to be released than their white counterparts from 2022 to 2024. This figure remained at 18.80% between 2016 and 2021 when the state began collecting this data.
Between 2016 to 2021, 33.45% of people of color appearing before the Parole Board were approved for release, compared to 40.39% of white people. The report further reveals that there would have been 3,656 additional grants of release for people of color appearing before the Parole Board if their release rates matched those of white people, including 1,338 just since Hochul took office.
"The sad reality, as this report shows, is that New York’s Parole Board is going backwards," said Jason D. Williamson, the report's co-author and executive director of NYU Law’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law. "With disparities in release rates increasing substantially despite heightened public attention to racial bias in our criminal legal system and beyond, it’s clear that the law must change for us to curb the Parole Board’s discriminatory actions and achieve real equity around parole."
State Senator Julia Salazar, sponsor of the Fair and Timely Parole Act, said the board needs a complete overhaul and described the current system as perpetuating punishment rather than assessing the offender's readiness for release after rehabilitation.
"Parole determinations should be based on who a person is today and what they have done to transform," the Brooklyn state senator said.
The report proposes several remedial recommendations, including expanding parole eligibility for adults 55 and older, who have already served at least 15 years, and assessing the offender's rehabilitation and readiness for release and reintegration into society.
