Assembly Bill A9382

                                BILL NUMBER:A9382

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the
posting of a person's information on the department of corrections'
website

PURPOSE: This bill provides that a person's conviction information may
be posted on the department of corrections' website for a period not to
exceed five years after his or her sentence expires. However, in the
case of a person who has been committed to the department of corrections
more than once, the department may post conviction information relating
to any prior commitment for a period not to exceed five years after his
or her sentence expires arising from the most recent commitment to the
department.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends the correction law by adding a new section 9 which
provides that any information relating to the conviction of a person may
be posted on the department's website for a period not to exceed five
years after the expiration of such person's sentence of imprisonment and
any period of parole or post-release supervision.  However, in the case
of a person who has been committed to the department on more than one
occasion, the department may post conviction information relating to any
prior commitment on such website for a period not to exceed five years
after the expiration of such person's sentence of imprisonment and any
              

period of parole or post-release supervision arising from the most
recent commitment to the department.

The foregoing provisions do not apply to any person who is convicted of
an offense that would make the person ineligible for merit time under
section 503 of the correction law (violent offenders) or to persons
required to register as a sex offender.

JUSTIFICATION: The New York State Department of Correctional Services
(DOCS) website provides online access to a person's conviction informa-
tion. Currently, there is no limit on how long a person's conviction
information will remain posted on this online database.

DOCS has a legitimate need to maintain a website of individuals incar-
cerated in state prisons. Victims of crimes may want to ascertain if
people who committed crimes against them are still incarcerated and
family and friends of people in prison may need a means of determining
where their loved ones are being held. Once a person is released from
prison and is no longer on parole or post-release supervision, however,
those reasons disappear. Those individuals who need criminal record
information can obtain it from New York State's Division of Criminal
Justice Services, which provides comprehensive criminal conviction
information to individuals and agencies who are authorized to conduct
such requests, and from the Office of Court Administration, which also
provides statewide criminal conviction information.

Instead, the DOGS information database, available on the Internet as a
free service, is being misused as an inappropriate criminal background
check resource for employers and others. The result of this practice is
that large numbers of qualified job seekers are being denied access to
employment and housing based on information that is often incomplete and
potentially misleading. For example, it contains information about when
a person is eligible for release from parole but, because the database
is maintained by DOCS and not the Division of Parole, omits information
that the person has been discharged from parole, leaving the impression
that they are still under state supervision. Moreover, the DOGS database
can be accessed by name alone, making it likely that a person with a
common name but no criminal history might be confused with another
person, currently or formerly incarcerated, with the same name.

Old, incomplete and misleading information about a person's incarcera-
tion is simply irrelevant five years after that individual has been
released from prison and is no longer on parole or post-release super-
vision. Given the other options in New York for individuals to obtain
complete criminal history information, the time that a conviction histo-
ry can be posted on the DOCS website should be limited, at most, to five
years after a person is released from prison plus any period of parole
or post-release supervision.

This bill would not apply to any violent offenders or sex offenders.
Therefore, DOGS would continue to maintain information about violent
offenders and sex offenders on their website and would not be required
to remove such information after the expiration of the applicable peri-
od.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2009: A3131 (Bradley) - Third Reading 2008:
A3070A (Bradley) - Rules 2007: A3070 (Bradley) - Rules 2006: A6393A
(Bradley) - Codes 2005: A6393A (Bradley) - Corrections

FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it
shall have become a law.