What is mitigation?
Mitigation is a complex, multi-pronged approach to preparing a person who has come into conflict with the law for their initial sentencing, parole board hearing or application for clemency, pardon or compassionate release. Mitigation was originally used primarily in death-penalty cases to attempt to persuade a jury to spare the defendant’s life. However, the practice of mitigation has grown, and is now applied to many kinds of cases, including white collar crimes. Mitigation looks at the client’s life, including their history of trauma or abuse, to explain how they arrived in a place where they could commit the unlawful acts that resulted in their potential or current incarceration. Mitigation is the “story-telling” part of representing a defendant or person seeking release from a carceral facility.
A Mitigation Specialist gathers detailed background information about a client in order to uncover mitigating factors and identify witnesses to support mitigation. The client can be a defendant facing a sentence in a criminal hearing, an incarcerated individual seeking clemency or preparing for a parole board hearing, or the perpetrator of a crime who desires to make amends to their victim or the victim’s family.
What is a mitigation specialist?
Why hire a mitigation specialist?
Mitigation Specialists have specific training and experience in the art of shedding the best possible light on the client. They have tools that they can use to help the client get in touch with the events of their past that shaped them into the person that they are in the present, help them develop their voice to tell their story, and assist the client in connecting deeply to their responsibility and remorse. In addition, Mitigation Specialists are skilled at recognizing valuable witnesses and in helping those witnesses advocate effectively for the client.
““During my work with Tanya, I have witnessed the dedication, care and zeal that she brings to her cases. Tanya’s research and writing skills are considerable, and are invaluable tools in her toolbox. Perhaps most important, however, is her empathy for and understanding of human nature, something that she brings into all of her work with clients.” ”
““For nearly ten years, I have witnessed Tanya’s skills as she prepared numerous clients prepare for their parole and SORA hearings. In every case, Tanya was able to connect with our clients, helping them to identify and grapple with the traumas they had suffered and to understand how unhealthy responses to that trauma had resulted in their coming into conflict with the law, causing harm to others, and causing harm to themselves. Tanya was able to prompt our clients into a level of introspection and self-reflection that allowed them to take genuine responsibility for the enormous harm they had caused. She provided them with tools and practices that enabled them to show sincere remorse and to present their full humanity to deeply intimidating and skeptical parole boards and judges.” ”
Location and Contact
119 West 57th Street, Suite 711
New York, NY 10019
(212) 567-2287
Due to Covid-19, meetings are primarily conducted via video; however, I will consider in-person meetings upon request in certain circumstances.