BILL NUMBER:  S6764

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in
relation to waiver of pre-sentence investigations and reports

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Local
Courts Advisory Committee.

This measure would amend the Criminal Procedure Law, as recently
amended by chapter 556 of the Laws of 2013, to eliminate, outside New
York City, the requirement of pre-sentence investigations ("PSIs") and
reports where a negotiated sentence of imprisonment for a term of 365
days or less is mutually agreed upon by the parties, with the consent
of the judge, and no sentence of probation will be imposed.

Prior to enactment of chapter 556, probation departments throughout
the state were required to conduct PSIs and prepare written reports
for all defendants convicted in felony cases, and in misdemeanor cases
where a sentence of imprisonment was imposed for a term in excess of
180 days. CPL 390.20. Section 6 of chapter 556 amended section 390.20
to establish an exception to these requirements where a negotiated
sentence of imprisonment for a term of 365 days or less has been
reached as a result of a conviction or revocation of a probation
sentence, and where probation will not be imposed under either
scenario. However, this exception was limited to "any city having a
              

population of one million or more." The present measure would broaden
that exception to encompass any probation department or court outside
New York City without regard to population.

This measure recognizes that the legislative purposes underlying
chapter 556 - eliminating the costly requirement of PSIs for
negotiated sentences and allowing for probation departments to more
appropriately reassign probation officers - are equally applicable in
the 57 counties located outside New York City. The current PSI
requirements necessitate additional court hearings, delay sentencing
and expend public resources in conducting investigations and preparing
reports that rarely affect final sentencing outcomes. We believe that
probation departments and courts outside New York City should be
treated no differently than those in New York City with regard to an
expensive, time-consuming mandate shown to have little impact on
sentencing.

It is important to note that neither chapter 556 nor this measure
would make any other change in statutory requirements concerning PSIs
or affect a judge's discretion to order a PSI in any case where the
judge believes it is appropriate to do so, including any case where
the statute would no longer automatically require a PSI.

This measure, which would have no fiscal impact, would take effect 90
days after it shall have become a law.

 2014-15 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

OCA 2014-65
OCA 2015-57