NY State Senate Bill 2019-S6917

Senate Bill S6917

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to allowing judges more options for when to impose bail or commit the principal to the custody of the sheriff

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - Stricken

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
Aug 11, 2020	recommit, enacting clause stricken
Jan 08, 2020	referred to codes
Dec 20, 2019	referred to rules

2019-S6917 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9576
Law Section:: Criminal Procedure Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§510.10, 530.20 & 530.40, CP L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: A7772
2023-2024: A6339
2025-2026: A5212

2019-S6917 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows judges more options for when to impose bail or commit the principal to the custody of the sheriff for burglary in the second degree, robbery in the second degree and crimes which resulted in death or serious physical injury.

2019-S6917 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6917

SPONSOR: JACOBS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to allowing
judges more options for when to impose bail or commit the principal to
the custody of the sheriff

 
PURPOSE:

To amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to allowing judges more
options for when to impose bail or commit the principal to the custody
of the sheriff

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill places burglary in the second degree as defined in
subdivision two of section 140.25 of the penal law and robbery in the
second degree as defined by subdivision one of section 160.10 of the
penal law in the same category with other criminal off enses to be

considered as qualifying offenses for which a defendant may be committed
to the custody of the sheriff.

Section 2 of the bill would amend Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) Section
530.20 and section 3 of the bill would amend CPL Section 530.40 to clas-
sify any crime for which a defendant has been accused of causing the
death or serious physical injury of a victim(s), as a qualifying offense
for which a court may consider establishing cash bail, or committing a
defendant to the custody of the sheriff in county jail.

Section 4 is the effective date; November 1 immediately following the
date, this bill becomes law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Burglary in the second degree and Robbery in the second degree are both
classified as Class C felonies, punishable by a maximum of fifteen years
in a state prison. The maximum period of incarceration for which a
defendant may serve if convicted should serve as an in dicator for how
the Legislature viewed the impact that these two serious felonies have
on society. Although some may claim that these two crimes are not neces-
sarily violent, both crimes as defined in Criminal Procedure Law are so
potentially threatening and harmful to victim(s) that each crime argu-
ably borders on violent and should thus be treated as so. This bill
would treat each of these two offenses consistent with all other violent
felony offenses under Penal Law Section 70.02 that are to be considered
as a qualifying offense for which a judge is afforded the option to fix
cash bail or to remand a defendant to the custody of a sheriff.

According to the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services, there were
30,999 burglaries and 18,176 robberies reported to law enforcement in
2018 alone. These are not just merely statistics, but each burglary or
robbery represents a person(s) whose life was impact ed by inherently
violent crimes. New Yorkers should not live in fear of burglars and
robbers being out a of the streets because the judge's hands are tied,
and therefore it is imperative that judges have the ability to remand
defendants accused of Burglary in the second degree or Robbery in the

second degree into the custody of the sheriff while awaiting trial
should they believe it is appropriate.

In addition, judges must be provided the option to fix cash bail or
remand to the custody of the sheriff, those defendants accused of crimes
involving death or serious physical injury to a victim(s).  Under Crimi-
nal Procedure Law set to take effect January 1, 2020, judges will be
denied the ability to remand defendants in to custody that have alleged-
ly committed crimes such as Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Criminal-
ly Negligent Homicide and Aggravated Vehicular Homicide; each of these
crimes are felonies and involve the death of at least one victim. As a
result, judges presiding over such serious cases must have the ability
to uphold public safety and to ensure that allegedly violent defendants
are not out on the streets where they are free to reoffend. Enabling
defendants to walk the streets freely pending trial for such serious
crimes will not only lead to more New Yorkers fearing for their safety,
but may also encourage non-compliance with court appearances for defend-
ants that are not constrained by cash bail and that face the possibility
of long prison sentences.

A small number of states have chosen to or have considered doing away
with pretrial cash bail in recent years. The State of California elimi-
nated cash bail related to most criminal offenses in 2018. Yet Califor-
nia also promoted safeguards to accompany bail reform aimed at protect-
ing the public including an optional risk assessment algorithm utilized
in determining bail for some criminal defendants and allocated greater
funding for electronic monitoring (ankle bracelets) of some defendants
pending trial. Although these safeguards remain somewhat controversial,
they indicate the California Legislature took steps to protect its resi-
dents. Unfortunately, similar steps to promote public safety were not
taken by the New York Legislature when bail reform was passed in the FY
2019-20 state budget.

Sadly, many New Yorkers believe the recent reforms to our system of cash
bail were reckless, rushed, and are now dangerous to the safety and
well-being of our state's residents. The New York State Legislature has
the opportunity to rectify this apparent lack of foresight with the
passage of this bill that will allow judges to fix cash bail or to
remand a defendant into sheriff's custody in cases involving the death
or serious physical injury of a victim.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill will take effect November 1 immediately following this bill
becoming law.

2019-S6917 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6917
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             December 20, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  JACOBS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure  law,  in  relation  to  allowing
   judges more options for when to impose bail or commit the principal to
   the custody of the sheriff

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (h) and (i) of  subdivision  4  of  section
 510.10  of the criminal procedure law, as added by section 2 of part JJJ
 of chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, are amended and a new  paragraph  (j)
 is added to read as follows:
   (a) a felony enumerated in section 70.02 of the penal law[, other than
 burglary  in  the second degree as defined in subdivision two of section
 140.25 of the penal law or robbery in the second degree  as  defined  in
 subdivision one of section 160.10 of the penal law];
   (h)  criminal  contempt in the second degree as defined in subdivision
 three of section 215.50 of the penal law, criminal contempt in the first
 degree as defined in subdivision (b), (c) or (d) of  section  215.51  of
 the  penal  law  or  aggravated  criminal contempt as defined in section
 215.52 of the penal law, and the underlying allegation of such charge of
 criminal contempt in the second degree, criminal contempt in  the  first
 degree  or aggravated criminal contempt is that the defendant violated a
 duly served order of protection where the protected party is a member of
 the defendant's same family or household as defined in  subdivision  one
 of section 530.11 of this article; [or]
   (i)  facilitating  a  sexual  performance by a child with a controlled
 substance or alcohol as defined in section 263.30 of the penal law,  use
 of  a  child in a sexual performance as defined in section 263.05 of the
 penal law or luring a child as defined in  subdivision  one  of  section
 120.70 of the penal law[.]; OR
   (J) A CRIME WHICH RESULTED IN DEATH OR SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD14046-02-9

 S. 6917                             2
 
   §  2.  Subparagraphs (i), (viii) and (ix) of paragraph (b) of subdivi-
 sion 1 of section 530.20 of the criminal procedure law,  as  amended  by
 section  16  of  part JJJ of chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, are amended
 and a new subparagraph (x) is added to read as follows:
   (i) a felony enumerated in section 70.02 of the penal law[, other than
 burglary  in  the second degree as defined in subdivision two of section
 140.25 of the penal law or robbery in the second degree  as  defined  in
 subdivision one of section 160.10 of the penal law];
   (viii)  criminal  contempt in the second degree as defined in subdivi-
 sion three of section 215.50 of the penal law, criminal contempt in  the
 first degree as defined in subdivision (b), (c) or (d) of section 215.51
 of  the  penal law or aggravated criminal contempt as defined in section
 215.52 of the penal law, and the underlying allegation of such charge of
 criminal contempt in the second degree, criminal contempt in  the  first
 degree  or aggravated criminal contempt is that the defendant violated a
 duly served order of protection where the protected party is a member of
 the defendant's same family or household as defined in  subdivision  one
 of section 530.11 of this article; [or]
   (ix)  facilitating  a  sexual performance by a child with a controlled
 substance or alcohol as defined in section 263.30 of the penal law,  use
 of  a  child in a sexual performance as defined in section 263.05 of the
 penal law or luring a child as defined in  subdivision  one  of  section
 120.70 of the penal law[.]; OR
   (X) A CRIME WHICH RESULTED IN DEATH OR SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY.
   § 3. Paragraphs (a), (h) and (i) of subdivision 4 of section 530.40 of
 the  criminal procedure law, as added by section 18 of part JJJ of chap-
 ter 59 of the laws of 2019, are amended and a new paragraph (j) is added
 to read as follows:
   (a) a felony enumerated in section 70.02 of the penal law[, other than
 burglary in the second degree as defined in subdivision two  of  section
 140.25  of  the  penal law or robbery in the second degree as defined in
 subdivision one of section 160.10 of the penal law];
   (h) criminal contempt in the second degree as defined  in  subdivision
 three of section 215.50 of the penal law, criminal contempt in the first
 degree  as  defined  in subdivision (b), (c) or (d) of section 215.51 of
 the penal law or aggravated criminal  contempt  as  defined  in  section
 215.52 of the penal law, and the underlying allegation of such charge of
 criminal  contempt  in the second degree, criminal contempt in the first
 degree or aggravated criminal contempt is that the defendant violated  a
 duly served order of protection where the protected party is a member of
 the  defendant's  same family or household as defined in subdivision one
 of section 530.11 of this article; [or]
   (i) facilitating a sexual performance by a  child  with  a  controlled
 substance  or alcohol as defined in section 263.30 of the penal law, use
 of a child in a sexual performance as defined in section 263.05  of  the
 penal  law  or  luring  a child as defined in subdivision one of section
 120.70 of the penal law[.]; OR
   (J) A CRIME WHICH RESULTED IN DEATH OR SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
 ing the date upon which it shall have become a  law  provided,  however,
 that  if part JJJ of chapter 59 of the laws of 2019 shall not have taken
 effect on or before such date then this act shall  take  effect  on  the
 same  date  and in the same manner as part JJJ of chapter 59 of the laws
 of 2019 takes effect.

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