A judge’s new model for forgiveness

A judge’s new model for forgiveness

Jesse Wegman of The New York Times reports that Judge John Gleeson, a federal district judge in Brooklyn, may be changing the way that judges stay involved in defendants lives after they are convicted in the courtroom. Wegman recalls a 2003 trial of a woman charged for her role in faking a car accident for the insurance payments, after which Judge Gleeson sentenced her to 15 months in prison. But this month, over a decade later, Gleeson released a 31-page opinion that essentially vouches for the woman’s good character. Gleeson called it a “federal certificate of rehabilitation,” and issued the document after finding that the 2003 conviction made it extremely difficult for the woman to get a job (New York Times).

No certificate exists in federal law, so the judge designed one himself and attached it to his opinion, writing, “I had no intention to sentence her to the unending hardship she has endured in the job market.”

The woman had asked Judge Gleeson to expunge her conviction, and although Gleeson denied her request, he opted to send “a powerful signal that the same system that found a person deserving of punishment has now found that individual fit to fully rejoin the community” (New York Times).

Gleeson gave the woman the certificate in part because she has never been convicted of another crime. Additionally, she was raising two children alone on less than $15,000 a year. After her conviction, she was evicted from her apartment and had her nursing license suspended.

“If we want formerly incarcerated people to become upstanding citizens, we should not litter their paths to re-entry with stumbling blocks,” Gleeson wrote.

Because many citizens who have a criminal record struggle to find stable, secure employment, many cities around the country have enacted laws that prohibit employers from asking about an applicant’s criminal record until later in the hiring process. Judge Gleeson has pointed to several states, including New York, that offer some relief in removing automatic penalties attached to a conviction, but have no power to restore privileges such as the ability to serve in the military or receive government benefits (New York Times).

Wegman writes that “over more than two decades on the bench, Judge Gleeson has often challenged Congress, the White House and other judges to think more sensibly about harsh criminal laws” (New York Times). Judge Gleeson has since retired from the bench, but his progressive efforts to improve the lives of former convicts are compassionate and sensible, and have been noted on a national scale.

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