All right.

Next, I want to talk about legislation that could come back in the 2027 session.

Assembly Bill 91, also known as the Second Look Act, would allow Nevada's parole board to take a second look at certain people in prison for possible early release.

The second look reviews would be available to people convicted of category A or B felonies, but only if they were not sentenced to death, do not pose a significant risk to public safety and have already served at least ten years.

The bill would also expand parole eligibility for people who committed their crimes before turning 25.

The measure passed the Assembly but stalled in the Senate and Assemblywoman Cecilia Gonzalez says she hopes to revive it next session.

It's legislation she's proud to have crafted with Ricky Slaughter, an activist, author and inmate.

my biological father was incarcerated for 30 years.

You know, I have some of my earliest childhood memories are me getting on the city bus with my mother and going down to visitation.

And so visiting Ricky, it wasn't.

You know, I've been here before.

category A felonies could include rape.

How do you justify that?

That should be part of this.

I think that at the end of the day, I see every person as a human being, and we are not our worst days or the worst things that we do.

I'm also a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault as a child, and so as somebody who is a victim myself, I don't think that my abuser the penalty should be death or life incarcerated.

Right.Like, I think that we have this idea where because somebody does something egregious or harmful or something as intense as brooder, right, or felony murder, that we just throw them away.

They are still a human being that some where somehow got lost in the cracks of whatever that led them to that moment.

That doesn't mean that we get to throw them away just because we think what they did was horrible.

Do people that commit category and category B felonies deserve to be held accountable?

Absolutely.

But we're talking about young people here, people that make mistakes that maybe didn't have other parts of their lives.

When you pull back the whole curtain, right, that now we just throw away forever.

It costs us taxpayers money, right?

That's money that could be going to education, that could be paying teacher salaries, that could be paying into afterschool youth programs.

According to the Sentencing Project, 15 state legislatures have passed some form of second look legislation.

It did not get through Nevada's legislature in this past session.

Assemblywoman, you voted no on it.

Why?

So I think any time that you're dealing with reforming in the criminal justice system and especially early release of prisoners, you have to be very balanced and nuanced in your approach because you have the rights of the people who are incarcerated, and you have the rights of the victims of their crimes.

And I think you have to be very careful to tread lightly there and make sure that you're not, overcompensating in one way or another.

I also think when you look at category A or category B felonies, it seems like that's sort of an easy thing, right?

Like a general population.

What does that mean?

We're talking about the worst crimes that are committed in the state, like the harshest laws.

And I actually I pulled some information from the research division of the LCB Legislative Council Bureau and found that there are four pages worth of category A felonies, including first degree murder, second degree murder.

Kidnaping with substantial bodily harm, and then category B felonies.

12 pages worth.

And so I think, you know, if we're going to craft some legislation, if this does come back, I would like us to take a more nuanced approach.

And of the 3 or 4 pages of category A, maybe pick some of the ones that are the least violent and the smallest amount of time that they would be doing anyway.

And look at those for for adding and expanding.

Because what we're expanding on is a program that was meant for geriatric release, right.

And I think when we're looking at, in general from a public policy standpoint, someone who is aged 65 or more and I'm, I'm 52, almost.

Right, like in my viewpoint of old age changes.

But when you're 65 or older, just you're physically less likely to be able to commit violent crimes.

And so it makes a lot of sense from a public policy standpoint, and also from the age of 18 and younger, if you're charged as an adult, you know, your brain isn't fully functioning and you know all of those things, it's not fully formed and you're not making good decisions, right?

But my son just turned 25, and I can tell you the difference between him and 18 to 25 is a big difference.

And so maybe 18 to 19 we could look at that, but not the 25. will say that, you know, the justice system does make mistakes, mistakes, and there are fault in our justice system, and people have been wrongly convicted.

So giving someone opportunity for their case just to be looked at again, I think is a great opportunity.

It doesn't mean that they're going to release that, you know, they still go through the due process.

People review the case, and if there was an error in the case or if there has been some substantial change, that this individual will be eligible for release.

And I think they do deserve that.

Their second chance.

All right.

Assemblyman Jovan Jackson and Assemblywoman Lisa Cole, thank you so much for joining Nevada Week.