By CAROL SHAPIRO / TIMES UNION
The Fair and Timely Parole Act and the Elder Parole Act would make the process fairer, writes a former state Parole Board commissioner.
We cannot change our past, but we can change ourselves. Forgive me if that sounds like the tagline of a sappy drugstore paperback, but it’s true.
When I became a New York State Parole Board commissioner, my only goal was to apply the law fairly and make release decisions based on parole applicants’ current risk –– to determine whether they had truly reckoned with their pasts and made changes within themselves to ensure they would live according to the law…