To: Governor Andrew Cuomo
Governor Cuomo: Please support a "SECOND CHANCE ACT" for 1st time, non-violent felony offenders!
WE THE PEOPLE of the State of New York hereby present this petition to Governor Cuomo "AND" the State Legislature in support of a "SECOND CHANCE ACT", i.e., the drafting and passage of legislation that would, upon application of eligible 1st time non-violent felony offenders, seal said convictions of such 1st time non-violent felony offenders for all civil purposes- so as to end the current state sponsored legalized discrimination that these people unduly face every day in nearly every sector of their lives.
Why is this important?
After my mother died in front of my face at the age of 14 I was left to fend for myself in the streets with no guidance or positive role models. Not surprisingly, by the youthful age of 19 I was charged and subsequently convicted/sentenced as a first time non-violent felony offender for unlawful possession of a controlled substance in the 4th/5th degree and sentenced to 6 years in prison, and a lifetime of state sponsored legal discrimination in virtually every sector of my life (e.g., I can not get a decent/affordable apartment or decent job to feed my family because of this blemish on my record from when I was just a teenager).
I have not been charged with or convicted of a felony crime since, and I am hereby calling on Governor Cuomo and the State Legislature to give me and the hundreds of thousands of other real New Yorkers like me a "second chance" at being a "first class citizen". As the political climates tend to change in Albany every 4 years or so, this may be our only last chance to get this legislation passed AND I NEED YOUR HELP BY SIGNING THIS PETITION AND VOICING YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS MEASURE!