Assembly Bill A11563

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   11563
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 2, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Burroughs)
   -- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal law and the correction  law,  in  relation  to
   enacting the "duty to intervene accountability act"
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as  the  "duty  to
 intervene accountability act" or "DIAA".
   § 2. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby finds and
 declares that:
   1.  Corrections  officers  employed  by  local  and state correctional
 facilities in the State of New York are entrusted with the care,  custo-
 dy,  transport,  and  control  of arrested and incarcerated individuals,
 creating a special duty of protection;
   2. Incarcerated individuals,  by  virtue  of  their  confinement,  are
 uniquely  vulnerable  and dependent upon corrections personnel for their
 safety and well-being;
   3. The failure of a corrections officer to intervene  when  witnessing
 an unjustified assault on an incarcerated individual constitutes a grave
 dereliction of duty that may result in death or serious physical injury;
   4. Current law does not adequately address the criminal accountability
 of  corrections  officers who, while on duty and having a clear opportu-
 nity to act, fail to intervene to prevent or stop an unjustified assault
 on an individual in their custody; and
   5. Establishing clear criminal liability for such failures  to  inter-
 vene  will serve to deter misconduct, protect the rights of incarcerated
 individuals, promote accountability within correctional facilities,  and
 uphold the public trust placed in corrections personnel.
   § 3. Section 125.15 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
 vision 2 to read as follows:
   2.  SUCH  PERSON IS A CORRECTIONS OFFICER EMPLOYED BY A LOCAL OR STATE
 CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TWENTY-FIVE OF  SECTION
 2.10 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW, AND SUCH PERSON HAS AS PART OF THEIR
 DUTIES  THE  CARE,  CUSTODY, TRANSPORT, AND/OR CONTROL OF AN ARRESTED OR
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD16026-01-6
 A. 11563                            2
 
 INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL, AND SUCH PERSON, WHILE ON  DUTY,  WITNESSES  AN
 ASSAULT WHICH SUCH PERSON KNOWS OR REASONABLY SHOULD KNOW IS UNJUSTIFIED
 ON  SAID ARRESTED OR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL BY THOSE ACTING WITH INTENT
 TO  CAUSE PHYSICAL INJURY, THAT RESULTS IN THE DEATH OF SAID INDIVIDUAL,
 AND THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL  TAKES  NO  ACTION  TO  RESTRICT,  RESTRAIN,  OR
 PREVENT THE CONTINUATION OF SAID ASSAULT DESPITE HAVING A CLEAR OPPORTU-
 NITY  TO  DO SO. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION, "CLEAR OPPORTUNITY TO
 DO SO" MEANS THAT THE CORRECTIONS OFFICER WAS PHYSICALLY PRESENT,  AWARE
 OF  THE  ASSAULT,  AND  CAPABLE OF TAKING REASONABLE ACTION TO RESTRICT,
 RESTRAIN, OR PREVENT THE CONTINUATION OF SAID ASSAULT WITHOUT  AN  IMMI-
 NENT  AND  OBJECTIVELY  REASONABLE  THREAT  OF DEATH OR SERIOUS PHYSICAL
 INJURY TO THE OFFICER, AND "UNJUSTIFIED ASSAULT" MEANS THE USE OF  FORCE
 AGAINST AN ARRESTED OR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL THAT IS NOT AUTHORIZED BY
 LAW,  REGULATION,  OR  DEPARTMENTAL POLICY AS A REASONABLE AND NECESSARY
 RESPONSE TO AN IMMEDIATE THREAT; OR
   § 4. Subdivision 14 of section 120.05 of the penal law,  as  added  by
 chapter  268 of the laws of 2016, is amended and a new subdivision 15 is
 added to read as follows:
   14. With intent to prevent or obstruct a process server, as defined in
 section eighty-nine-t of the general business  law,  from  performing  a
 lawful  duty  pursuant  to  article  three of the civil practice law and
 rules, or intentionally, as retaliation against such  a  process  server
 for  the  performance  of  the  process server's duties pursuant to such
 article, including by means of releasing or failing to control an animal
 evincing the actor's intent that the  animal  prevent  or  obstruct  the
 lawful  duty of the process server or as retaliation against the process
 server, [he or she causes] THEY CAUSE physical injury  to  such  process
 server[.]; OR
   15.  SUCH PERSON IS A CORRECTIONS OFFICER EMPLOYED BY A LOCAL OR STATE
 CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TWENTY-FIVE OF  SECTION
 2.10 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW, AND SUCH PERSON HAS AS PART OF THEIR
 DUTIES  THE  CARE,  CUSTODY, TRANSPORT, AND/OR CONTROL OF AN ARRESTED OR
 INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL, AND SUCH PERSON, WHILE ON  DUTY,  WITNESSES  AN
 ASSAULT WHICH SUCH PERSON KNOWS OR REASONABLY SHOULD KNOW IS UNJUSTIFIED
 ON  SAID ARRESTED OR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL BY THOSE ACTING WITH INTENT
 TO CAUSE PHYSICAL INJURY, THAT RESULTS IN  SERIOUS  PHYSICAL  INJURY  TO
 SAID  INDIVIDUAL,  AND  THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL TAKES NO ACTION TO RESTRICT,
 RESTRAIN, OR PREVENT THE CONTINUATION OF SAID ASSAULT DESPITE  HAVING  A
 CLEAR  OPPORTUNITY  TO  DO  SO. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION, "CLEAR
 OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO" MEANS THAT THE CORRECTIONS OFFICER WAS  PHYSICALLY
 PRESENT,  AWARE  OF THE ASSAULT, AND CAPABLE OF TAKING REASONABLE ACTION
 TO RESTRICT, RESTRAIN, OR PREVENT THE CONTINUATION OF SAID ASSAULT WITH-
 OUT AN IMMINENT AND OBJECTIVELY REASONABLE THREAT OF  DEATH  OR  SERIOUS
 PHYSICAL  INJURY TO THE OFFICER, AND "UNJUSTIFIED ASSAULT" MEANS THE USE
 OF FORCE AGAINST AN ARRESTED OR  INCARCERATED  INDIVIDUAL  THAT  IS  NOT
 AUTHORIZED  BY  LAW,  REGULATION, OR DEPARTMENTAL POLICY AS A REASONABLE
 AND NECESSARY RESPONSE TO AN IMMEDIATE THREAT.
   § 5. The correction law is amended by adding a new section 123 to read
 as follows:
   §  123.  REPORTING  BY  CORRECTIONS  OFFICERS  OF  ASSAULTS.  1.   ANY
 CORRECTIONS OFFICER WHO WITNESSES AN ASSAULT AS DESCRIBED IN SUBDIVISION
 TWO  OF  SECTION  125.15 OR SUBDIVISION FIFTEEN OF SECTION 120.05 OF THE
 PENAL LAW SHALL, IN ADDITION TO ANY DUTY TO INTERVENE,  PROMPTLY  REPORT
 THE  INCIDENT  TO  A  SUPERVISOR  AND  TO THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OR OTHER
 APPROPRIATE OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY.
 A. 11563                            3
 
   2. FAILURE TO REPORT AS REQUIRED BY SUBDIVISION ONE  OF  THIS  SECTION
 SHALL  CONSTITUTE  GROUNDS  FOR  DISCIPLINARY  ACTION, INCLUDING BUT NOT
 LIMITED TO TERMINATION, IN ADDITION  TO  ANY  CRIMINAL  LIABILITY  UNDER
 SECTION 125.15 OR 120.05 OF THE PENAL LAW.
   §  6.  Severability.  If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
 section, or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent
 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,  impair,  or
 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, or part there-
 of  directly  involved  in  the controversy in which such judgment shall
 have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legis-
 lature that this act would  have  been  enacted  even  if  such  invalid
 provisions had not been included herein.
   § 7. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
 it  shall  have  become  a law. Effective immediately, the department of
 corrections and community supervision is authorized to promulgate, amend
 and/or repeal any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
 this act on or before such effective date.