BILL NUMBER: S3256

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to criminal history
record searches and open warrants

 
PURPOSE:

This bill will create a procedure to remove inaccurate information from
an individual's permanent criminal record as maintained by the Division
Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) as it relates to warrants issued as
part of a criminal proceeding.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill adds a new section 845-c of the executive law
creating a process whereby DCJS will exclude a warrant. that has not
been recalled from a person's criminal-history records where there has
been a new court proceeding reported on the case but no warrant has been
              

recalled. This section will not apply to criminal justice history
records available to state agencies with access to the DCJS data base
under. section 837(6) of the Executive Law or to law enforcement agen-
cies, but will affect criminal history background checks for civil
purposes.

Section 2 provides an effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Under Subsection six of Executive Law § 837, the Division of Criminal
Justice Services (DCJS) is required to establish a repository to main-
tain a record of all arrests and prosecutions in New York State, creat-
ing an individual's rap sheet. The registry's data includes a record of
all warrants issued as part of a criminal proceeding. Once these
warrants are vacated by the court, this information should then be sent,
to DCJS and recorded in the individual's rap sheet.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Due to failures in communication among the various criminal justice
agencies, the process outlined in the Executive Law is not always
followed, resulting in many individuals having rap sheets that list
warrants as active that have actually been recalled. These mistakes can
cause an individual to be denied employment, housing or public benefits
for which they are eligible.

Currently, in order to correct warrant-related mistakes of this sort, an
individual must return to the court where his or her case was heard and
ask the clerk of the court to forward information regarding the vacated
warrant to DCJS so that this information may be correctly reflected on
the individual's criminal record. An individual must follow this process
even when it is clear from the criminal record that further proceedings
occurred and that the warrant in question must have been previously
cleared.

This process becomes more complex, or even impossible, where the phantom
warrant involves an old case. Under the Records Retention and Disposi-
tion Schedule issued by the Office of Court Administration (OCA), courts
are ordered to destroy records of all returned warrants within five
years of the date of return or recall. Court case files, which may also
contain records concerning warrants, are also scheduled to be destroyed
after a period of time. This period can be as short a six years where
the case was terminated in favor of the defendant or resulted in a
violation disposition. Even records of cases that ended in a felony
conviction are only retained for 25 years before they are destroyed. As
a result, once the courts no longer have any record of these warrants,
these persons have no opportunity to have this inaccurate information
removed from their record.

The proposed amendment provides a simple mechanism to have incorrect,
outdated warrant information removed from criminal history records
released for civil background checks. It will not affect the data seen
by qualified state agencies, including the courts, or by law enforce-
ment.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-18: S. 2872 - Referred to Finance
2015-16: S.4939A - Amend and Recommit to Finance
2013-14: S.3255B/A.2896B - Referred to Codes, Reported and Third Reading
2011-12: S.3377/A.6473 - Referred to Codes

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This shall take effect January 1, 2021.