BILL NUMBER: S8647

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the
duties of the state board of parole

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill directs the Board of Parole to add to their annual report the
demographic data of persons considered for release

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 13 of section 259c of the executive law to
provide that the parole board shall publish demographic data including
race, ethnicity, region of commitment and other relevant data regarding
the persons it considers for release in its statutorily required annual
report to the governor and the legislature.

Section 2 provides for an effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Board of Parole has reported that it does not track release deci-
sions by age, ethnicity or other standard criteria maintained by the
Department of Correctional Services. In a public hearing in 2013, the
Board chair testified that it has remained completely neutral with
respect to demographic comparisons in its parole release decision-making
process but admitted that the Board maintains no demographic data to
support that claim.

The chair also testified that the Board gives no special consideration
to the characteristics of inmates which are known to indicate a low risk
of recidivism, characteristics like age and category of crime, and has
no ability to make sure that discriminatory decisions are not being made
based on race, ethnicity, region of commitment, type of offense, age or
gender.

The Board claims that race is not a factor in its decisions, but since
the Board has never documented race or other demographic data of persons
it considers for release, the Board cannot know whether it is in fact as
neutral as it purports to be. Because the Department of Correctional
Services documents and reports on the demographics of its inmates in a
large variety of categories, the ability to track such data and report
on it is already available at no additional cost to taxpayers. The Board
should be able to reflect on its own performance and lay to rest any
claims of disparate treatment.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2014: S.7844-Referred to Crime Victims, Crime, and
Correction/A.9370-Passed Assembly
2016: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime, and Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal to none in consideration of the fact that the data is already
tracked by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and
that the Board already is required to issue an annual report.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.