Co-authored by a man who returned to society two years ago after spending 24 and a half years in prison, the report makes the most comprehensive case yet for sentencing review in New York
Ending Endless Punishment: Excessive Sentencing, Transformation, and the Case for Second Look in New York is a new report from the Center for Justice at Columbia urging the New York State Legislature to pass the Second Look Act (S158/A1283) this legislative session. New York has cut prison admissions sharply over the past two decades, but it has not yet confronted the permanence of the punishments already imposed. Thousands remain inside under sentences handed down 20, 30, or 40 years ago — often during periods marked by punitive excess, racialized enforcement, and political fear — with no meaningful way to ask a court whether continued incarceration still makes sense. More than one in five people in New York prisons today are serving minimum terms of 20 years or more. The average age behind bars has climbed to 40.2 years, up four years since 2008. People 55 and older now make up nearly 15 percent of the prison population, more than 2.5 times their share in 2008.
As the report puts it, the Second Look Act is neither an act of leniency nor an exceptional remedy for unusual cases, but a bare-minimum correction to a sentencing system that has normalized excessive punishments while offering almost no opportunity to revisit them. Steve Zeidman, Professor at CUNY School of Law and Co-Director of the Second Look Project framed the underlying problem in the report this way: "A sentence once imposed, even if to some seemingly just, necessary, and appropriate, does not remain so in perpetuity."
The report's other co-author, Mujahideen Muhammad, came home in 2024 after 24 and a half years in New York prisons and now works at the Center for Justice. “Co-authoring this report about the Second Look Act was an opportunity for me to do something meaningful for the many reformed men and women I left behind in prison with excessive sentences who are worthy of being reassessed based on who they are today.”
The report draws on criminological research, fiscal data, judicial testimony, and conversations with dozens of incarcerated scholars across New York. Among its findings: people convicted of murder return to prison on new charges at a rate of 1.3 percent; between 2005 and 2021, New York received nearly 15,000 clemency applications and granted 37 commutations; and 16 states, D.C., and the federal government have already passed some form of sentencing review.
The bill has drawn support from inside the system itself. Chief Judge Rowan Wilson made it the centerpiece of his 2025 State of the Judiciary address, calling the current system one that “isn’t working” and “maybe hasn’t really ever worked.” DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello appeared alongside him in support. A 2024 statewide poll found 68 percent of New York voters back allowing rehabilitated people to petition for resentencing.
