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A07070 Summary:

BILL NOA07070
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORThiele
 
COSPNSRButtenschon
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd 722.10 & 722.23, CP L
 
Relates to proceedings involving adolescent offenders and the possession or use of weapons; provides for the access of applicable records; expands the meaning of extraordinary circumstances to include when the defendant is accused of an offense involving the use, possession, or display of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon.
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A07070 Actions:

BILL NOA07070
 
05/10/2023referred to codes
01/03/2024referred to codes
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A07070 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7070
 
SPONSOR: Thiele
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to proceedings involving adolescent offenders and the possession or use of weapons   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The purpose of this bill is to clarify what may constitute an extraor- dinary circumstance with regard to court motions to remove an action in youth part to family court, when an adolescent offender is charged with a crime that involved the use, possession or displaying of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends Section 722.10 of the criminal procedure law by adding a new subdivision 3 to provide that notwithstanding any other law, justices presiding in youth part, along with all other parties in an action that is before the youth part, shall have access to all family court records related to juvenile delinquency proceedings of the defendant prior to arraignment. Section 2 of the bill amends Criminal Procedure Law Subsection 722.23, subdivision 1, paragraph (d), to provide that when an adolescent in youth part is charged with a nonviolent crime that involved a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon, that it may be considered an extraordinary circumstance by which a judge may make a motion to prevent the transfer of the action to family court. This section also clarifies that the justice may also consider prior conviction of an offense involving the illegal use, possession or display of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon. Section 3 of the bill amends Criminal Procedure Law Section 722.23, subdivision 2, paragraph (c) (ii) to provide that if a defendant was engaged in the use, possession and display of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or deadly weapon during the furtherance of a violent offense they are charged with, the case shall not be transferred to family court. Section 4 provides for an immediate effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: This bill is necessary to provide clarification in state criminal proce- durp law as it relates to adjudication of Adolescent Offenders for seri- ous crimes. Alarmingly, cases of youth-on-youth gun violence and crimes with guns by youths have risen since the 2017 laws overhauling the juve- nile justice statutes in New York took effect. The intention of the newly created Youth Part court under the 2017 law changes is to adjudicate the most serious of adolescent offenses. Gun violence and gun-involved crimes are inarguably among the most serious crime types that exist and that plague our youth. Unfortunately, there are gaps in the new laws and consequently there has been rising youth, gun and gang violence in many areas of the state. This bill addresses one major gap in the law to allow justices in Youth Part to be able to view the entire picture of an adolescent defendant's case, including dangerousness based on criminal history to help them better make a deteLwination and risk assessment of whether its transfer to Family Court is most appropriate. A second major gap in the revised 2017 statutes is that the criminal justice system was left without clear guidance regarding what factors may constitute "extraordinary circumstances" of a case. Under the new law, when "extraordinary circumstances" exist in non-violent cases, judges may make a motion to retain the case in Youth Part rather than transfer to Family Court. Nevertheless, due to lack of clarity in the statute about "extraordinary circumstances", including whether the fact that a gun was involved in the crime, judges have been constrained to transfer extremely serious gun-involved cases to Family Court, at times even citing lack of clear guidance in the "extraordinary circumstance" component of the new law. Under this bill if the Adolescent Offender's non-violent crime involved a gun, or if a judge were to find in a defendant's history that they have a previous conviction of a serious crime involving a gun, the judge would have the ability to move to keep the case in Youth Part, based on it being an "extraordinary circumstance.". The judge still may opt to transfer the youth's case to Family Court. A third major gap in the new law exists when guns are used or displayed in violent crimes. Current law provides that if a violent felony offense is charged where a gun is "displayed" then that case is automatically adjudicated in Youth Part. However, when a gun is "possessed" or other- wise "used" in the offense, it is not considered a violent offense to be adjudicated in Youth Part. For example, a gun may be present on a person's body, felt by the victim, and the offender even may have informed the victim of its presence or threatened them with its use during the act of the crime, but that case doe's not automatically stay in Youth Part. This bill would ensure that such gun crime cases would stay in Youth Part due to their violent nature. While there has been only one comprehensive review of the new laws in 2020 by a now disbanded Task Force on its implementation, agencies and local governments across the state are reporting that youth violence with guns actually has risen, instead of being reduced since the chang- es. A recent Times Union news article reported alarming statistics from their data review on the impacts of the statutory changes. For example, they reported after their own data analysis and-after reviewing testimo- ny provided at a legislative hearing, that "in Albany County, since 2018, nearly 60 % of cases involving adolescent and juvenile offenders are violent offenses, and nearly half of those involve guns." Their report also references data shared by the NYPD to the Legislature that indicated that "Since 2017 the number of juvenile shooting victims in NYC has doubled and the number of juveniles identified as shooters had increased about 156 %." NYPD officials, in their testimony reported data showing there has been a large increase in NYC in youth gun crimes, including a "183% increase in offenders under 18 involved in gun crimes between 2017 and 2022." The same NYPD testimony also indicates there has been "a sharp increase in firearms possession cases among youth and (...) last year (2022), 10 percent of NYC shooting victims were under the age of 18." NYPD data also shows that "youths arrested for gun possession tripled from 2017-2021." And, that "48% of 16-year-old offenders were rearrested for new crimes, including 27% for violent offenses." Along with that, the NYPD's data sadly showed that "offenders under 18 arrested for gun possession and subsequently involved in a shooting within two years of their arrest for gun possession rose from 6.7% to 23.4 % from 2017-2020, a 39% increase. Further concerning are reports that violent gangs in New York also are recruiting increasingly lower-aged youths to carry guns during criminal acts during gang activity due to the likelihood they will face much lower repercussions for gun crimes under Family Court processes. These alarming trends since the new laws took effect need to be reversed. The overhaul of the adolescent offender statutes in 2017 has not lived up to its promise of ending youth recidivism and crime reduction. In fact, the implementation of the new laws has seen some opposite effects with regard to gun-involved youth crimes. Efforts to reduce gun crimes among youths and in our state, under the new statutes are made more difficult due to the gaps that remain in the law. These statutory gaps must be closed. Otherwise, the intent of the new laws to reduce serious crime and its impacts among adolescents will not be realized. Therefore, this bill is necessary to ensure that the goals of the recent changes to adolescent offender laws to reduce youth violence and recidivism and keep the public safer may be reached.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: This is a new bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A07070 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          7070
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      May 10, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Codes
 
        AN  ACT  to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to proceedings
          involving adolescent offenders and the possession or use of weapons
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Section 722.10 of the criminal procedure law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision 3 to read as follows:
     3    3. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, judges presiding  in
     4  the  youth part shall have access to all family court records, including
     5  records related to previous  juvenile  delinquency  proceedings  brought
     6  against the defendant. Any such relevant records shall be made available
     7  to  the parties in the action before the youth part prior to arraignment
     8  in such action.
     9    § 2. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 722.23 of the  criminal
    10  procedure  law, as added by section 1-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the
    11  laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
    12    (d) The court shall deny the motion to prevent removal of  the  action
    13  in youth part unless the court makes a determination upon such motion by
    14  the district attorney that extraordinary circumstances exist that should
    15  prevent  the transfer of the action to family court. For the purposes of
    16  this paragraph, the court may find extraordinary circumstances where the
    17  defendant is accused of an offense involving  the  use,  possession,  or
    18  display  of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon. Nothing in
    19  this section shall prevent the court from finding extraordinary  circum-
    20  stances  exist  based  upon  a finding that the defendant has previously
    21  been convicted of an offense involving the illegal use,  possession,  or
    22  display  of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other deadly weapon or that the
    23  defendant was previously adjudicated as a  youthful  offender,  juvenile
    24  offender  or  juvenile  delinquent  based  upon an offense involving the
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10807-01-3

        A. 7070                             2
 
     1  illegal use, possession or display of a firearm, shotgun, rifle or other
     2  deadly weapon.
     3    §  3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of section 722.23 of the criminal
     4  procedure law, as added by section 1-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of  the
     5  laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
     6    (c)  The  court  shall  order the action to proceed in accordance with
     7  subdivision one of this section unless, after reviewing the  papers  and
     8  hearing  from  the  parties,  the  court  determines in writing that the
     9  district attorney proved by a preponderance of the evidence one or  more
    10  of the following as set forth in the accusatory instrument:
    11    (i) the defendant caused significant physical injury to a person other
    12  than a participant in the offense; or
    13    (ii)  the  defendant  used, possessed or displayed a firearm, shotgun,
    14  rifle or deadly weapon as defined in the penal law  [in  furtherance  of
    15  such offense]; or
    16    (iii)  the  defendant  unlawfully  engaged in sexual intercourse, oral
    17  sexual conduct, anal sexual conduct or  sexual  contact  as  defined  in
    18  section 130.00 of the penal law.
    19    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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