L to R: The Honorable Elizabeth A. Garry, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Third Department; The Honorable Andra Ackerman, Cohoes City Court Judge.
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Albany County Courthouse, Albany NY
A unique court-based mentoring program started by the Honorable Andra Ackerman, Cohoes City Court Judge, graduated its first class on Tuesday September 25th, 2018 at a ceremony featuring former New York First Lady Matilda Cuomo as the keynote speaker.
Judge Ackerman’s program, the United Against Crime Community Action Network, or U-CAN, was created by the judge and John Caher, Senior Advisor for Strategic/Technical Communications, and launched in September 2017.
U-CAN offers participating defendants between the ages of 16 and 23 the opportunity to plead guilty initially to a misdemeanor, with sentencing adjourned for a year. During this year, they are placed on interim probation with a condition that they meet with their mentor for one hour each week. The mentors are all volunteers who are trained and screened through the New York State Mentoring Program, which was founded by Mrs. Cuomo in the early 1980’s. Defendants who successfully complete the year of interim probation can withdraw their pleas of guilty, and their cases are adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, a disposition which results in no criminal record. The U-CAN model is intended to help these young people achieve some understanding of themselves and pursue the goals they set for themselves.
Of the original 12 defendants, all at risk to reoffend, only one person has been arrested for a new crime while in the program, a petit larceny for which he immediately took responsibility and paid full restitution. One young man who had been arrested six times in the year prior to getting a mentor, has not been arrested since. Another completed every condition of probation and has been admitted to two colleges. A young woman who, a year ago was facing a possible jail sentence, is working, raising a newborn baby and studying to become a nurse—with no criminal record to hold her back.
The graduation was held in the Albany County Court House. The Honorable Elizabeth A. Garry, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Third Department, the Honorable Thomas Breslin, Administrative Judge of the Third Judicial District, and Dr. Jennifer Spring, Cohoes School Superintendent spoke to the graduates before Judge Ackerman presented them with their certificates.
Former New York First Lady Matilda Cuomo; The Honorable Andra Ackerman, Cohoes City Court Judge.