BILL NUMBER: S459

SPONSOR: PALUMBO
 
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 allow judges more options for when to impose bail or committing to
the custody of the sheriff.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Places burglary in the second degree as defined in subdivi-
sion 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 offenses to be considered as
qualifying offenses for which a defendant may be committed to the custo-
dy of the sheriff.
              

Section 2. Amends criminal procedure law section (cpl) 530.20 and
section 3 of the bill would amend cpl section 530.40 to classify 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 3. Adds paragraph x-1 to subdivision 4 of section 530.40 of the
cpl to include "a crime which resulted in death or serious physical
injury, or,"

Section 4. Sets for the effective date.

 
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 indicator 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 violence and should be treated as so. This bill would
treat each of these two offenses consistent with all other violent felo-
ny 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 impacted by inherently
violent crimes. New Yorkers should not live in fear of burglars and
robbers being out on the streets because the judge's hands are tied.
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 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 cpl
that went into effect January 1, 2020, judges are denied the ability to
remand defendants into custody that have allegedly committed crimes that
harm or 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. Establishing 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 ay also
encourage non-compliance with court appearances for defendants that are
not constrained by cash bail and that face the possibility of long pris-
on 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 not 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 involving the death
or serious physical injury of a victim.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024 S. 3150/A.6339; 2022 S.7288/A.7772; 2019-20 A.9576

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

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