NY State Senate Bill 2021-S6391

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to crime victims, crime and correction
Apr 26, 2021	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §259-i, Exec L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S4309

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Modifies the factors to be considered when making a parole release decision; updates the term "inmate" to "incarcerated person".

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6391

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to modifying the factors
to be considered when making a parole release decision

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill will get rid of the requirement that the Board of Parole
consider the seriousness of the crime when making a parole decision
since that requirement is already folded into the defendant's sentence
and into other parole factors.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Executive Law § 259-i(2)(c)(A).

Section 2 provides an effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:

When an incarcerated person has an indeterminate sentence, the parole
board decides whether or not to release them.  Many people serving long
prison sentences for crimes committed when they were young are denied
parole based on the "seriousness of the crime," one of the factors the
board must consider in making their decision. In many cases, even when a
judge has imposed the minimum sentence possible, the board still decides
to keep someone in prison 15 years later based on the seriousness of the
crime. This amounts to a resentencing to a longer minimum sentence than
was imposed by the judge. The judge, who has seen the defendant on
multiple occasions close to the time the crime was committed, read the
records, heard the testimony, and listened to the arguments, is better
able to decide the appropriate sentence than the parole board reviewing
paper records and interviewing the person for fifteen minutes over a
video screen years, or decades, later. It is in fact, the judge's job,
not the parole board's job, to decide the sentence.

We already require the board to take present dangerousness into account.
They are tasked with evaluating whether a person can live in society
without breaking the law, a condition which implies an evaluation of
dangerousness and rehabilitation. If someone is a danger to society or
to a particular person, the board can decide to keep that person in
prison for up to two years before they have an opportunity to be
released again.

This change in the law would instruct the board to look at the person
before them, decide whether or not they are rehabilitated or too danger-
ous to release, then make their decision based on the person's prison
disciplinary record, statements by the victim, recommendations of the
court, the DA and the defense attorney, effort put into rehabilitative
programming and other factors that are more appropriate than the nature
of the crime. Presumably, if their crime was not serious, the person
wouldn't be there in the first place standing before the board. Many
people complain that the board hit them based on the nature of their
crime alone, an immutable fact that can't be changed by efforts at
redemption. This law would allow incarcerated individuals who do not
pose a current public safety risk to earn their way out of prison and
onto parole supervision.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None. Will save the state money by letting some people out of prison
sooner.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This law shall take effect immediately.

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6391
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 26, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed  to  be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and
   Correction
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to modifying the  factors
   to be considered when making a parole release decision

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph (A) of  paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision  2  of
 section  259-i  of  the  executive law, as amended by chapter 130 of the
 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
   (A) Discretionary release on parole shall not be granted merely  as  a
 reward  for  good  conduct  or  efficient  performance  of  duties while
 confined but after considering if  there  is  a  reasonable  probability
 that,  if  such  inmate  is  released, he OR SHE will live and remain at
 liberty without violating the law, and that his OR HER  release  is  not
 incompatible  with  the welfare of society and will not so deprecate the
 seriousness of his OR HER crime as to  undermine  respect  for  law.  In
 making  the  parole release decision, the procedures adopted pursuant to
 subdivision four of section two hundred  fifty-nine-c  of  this  article
 shall  require  that  the following be considered: (i) the institutional
 record including program goals and  accomplishments,  academic  achieve-
 ments,  vocational  education, training or work assignments, therapy and
 interactions with staff and [inmates] INCARCERATED PEOPLE; (ii) perform-
 ance, if any, as a participant in a  temporary  release  program;  (iii)
 release  plans  including community resources, employment, education and
 training and support services available  to  the  [inmate]  INCARCERATED
 PERSON;  (iv)  any  deportation  order  issued by the federal government
 against the inmate while in the custody of the department and any recom-
 mendation regarding deportation made by the commissioner of the  depart-
 ment  pursuant to section one hundred forty-seven of the correction law;
 (v) any current or prior statement made to the board by the crime victim
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD10947-01-1

 S. 6391                             2
 
 or the victim's representative, where the crime victim is deceased or is
 mentally or physically incapacitated; (vi) the length of the determinate
 sentence to which the inmate would be subject had he or she  received  a
 sentence pursuant to section 70.70 or section 70.71 of the penal law for
 a  felony  defined in article two hundred twenty [or article two hundred
 twenty-one] of the penal law; (vii) the [seriousness of the offense with
 due consideration to the type  of  sentence,  length  of  sentence  and]
 recommendations  of  the  sentencing  court,  the district attorney, the
 attorney for the [inmate]  INCARCERATED  PERSON,  AND  the  pre-sentence
 probation  report  as well as consideration of any mitigating and aggra-
 vating factors[, and activities following arrest prior to  confinement];
 and  (viii)  prior  criminal record, including the nature and pattern of
 offenses, adjustment to any previous probation or parole supervision and
 institutional confinement. The board shall provide toll  free  telephone
 access  for  crime  victims.  In  the  case of an oral statement made in
 accordance with subdivision one of section 440.50 of the criminal proce-
 dure law, the parole board member shall present a written report of  the
 statement  to  the  parole  board. A crime victim's representative shall
 mean the crime victim's closest surviving  relative,  the  committee  or
 guardian of such person, or the legal representative of any such person.
 Such  statement  submitted  by the victim or victim's representative may
 include  information  concerning  threatening  or  intimidating  conduct
 toward  the victim, the victim's representative, or the victim's family,
 made by the person sentenced and occurring after  the  sentencing.  Such
 information  may include, but need not be limited to, the threatening or
 intimidating conduct of any other person who or which is directed by the
 person sentenced. Any statement by a victim or  the  victim's  represen-
 tative  made  to  the board shall be maintained by the department in the
 file provided to the board when interviewing the  [inmate]  INCARCERATED
 PERSON  in consideration of release. A victim or victim's representative
 who has submitted a written request to the department for the transcript
 of such interview shall be  provided  such  transcript  as  soon  as  it
 becomes available.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S6391

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S6391

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Luis R. Sepúlveda

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S6391 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments