STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10342
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2022
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Stern) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to certain notifications
and the rights of crime victims
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 646-a of the executive law, as added by chapter 67
2 of the laws of 1994, subdivisions 1, 3 and 4 as amended by section 35 of
3 part A-1 of chapter 56 of the laws of 2010, and paragraph (g) of subdi-
4 vision 2 as added by chapter 186 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read
5 as follows:
6 § 646-a. Information relative to the fair treatment standards;
7 pamphlet. 1. The district attorney or the court shall provide the
8 victim, parent or guardian of a minor, or a surviving family member in
9 the case of homicide, at the time of sentencing or at the earliest time
10 possible, with an informational pamphlet detailing the rights of crime
11 victims which shall be prepared by the division of criminal justice
12 services in consultation with the director of the office of victim
13 services and the office of victim assistance, and distributed to each
14 district attorney's office.
15 2. The pamphlet shall summarize provisions of this article. It shall
16 also include specific information with appropriate statutory references
17 on the following:
18 (a) the rights of crime victims to compensation and services;
19 (b) the rights of crime victims to routine notification of judicial
20 proceedings relating to their case as provided in section six hundred
21 forty-one of this article, in section 330.20, [and] section 440.50 and
22 section 380.50 of the criminal procedure law [and section one hundred
23 forty-nine-a of the correction law];
24 (c) the rights of crime victims to be protected from intimidation and
25 to have the court, where appropriate, issue protective orders as
26 provided in sections 530.12 and 530.13 of the criminal procedure law and
27 sections 215.15, 215.16 and 215.17 of the penal law;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15335-01-2
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1 (d) the rights of crime victims to submit, where appropriate, a victim
2 impact statement for the pre-sentencing report and the parole hearing as
3 provided in section 390.30 of the criminal procedure law and section two
4 hundred fifty-nine-i of this chapter;
5 (e) the rights of crime victims, where a defendant is being sentenced
6 for a felony, to request the right to make a statement at the time of
7 sentencing as provided in section 380.50 of the criminal procedure law;
8 [and]
9 (f) the rights of crime victims to request restitution and have the
10 district attorney present such request to the court and assist the crime
11 victim in the filing and collection of a restitution order in cooper-
12 ation with the designated agency of the court as provided in section
13 420.10 of the criminal procedure law and section 60.27 of the penal
14 law[.];
15 (g) the rights of crime victims to be aware of the defendant's incar-
16 ceration status by providing the [division of] state board of parole's
17 contact information, including the [division's] board's toll-free tele-
18 phone number, as provided for in subdivision two of section two hundred
19 fifty-nine-i of this chapter. Such notice shall advise the crime victim
20 to use the [division's] board's toll-free telephone number to update
21 contact information[.];
22 (h) the requirement of a victim or a surviving family member to regis-
23 ter with the department of corrections and community supervision's
24 office of victim assistance if, at any time, they want to:
25 (i) be notified of a defendant's release from a state correctional
26 facility;
27 (ii) be notified of parole board interviews with a defendant, and the
28 results of any such interviews; or
29 (iii) provide or update a victim impact statement to the board of
30 parole; and
31 (i) the right of crime victims or surviving family members to obtain,
32 at no cost, a copy of the transcripts of parole hearings.
33 3. This pamphlet shall provide space for the insertion of the follow-
34 ing information:
35 (a) the address and phone number of the office of victim services;
36 (b) the address and phone number of the office of victim assistance;
37 (c) the address and phone numbers of local victim service programs,
38 where appropriate;
39 [(c)] (d) the name, phone number and office location of the person in
40 the district attorney's office to whom inquiries concerning the
41 [victims] victim's case may be directed; and
42 [(d)] (e) any other information the division deems appropriate.
43 4. (a) The commissioner of the division of criminal justice services
44 in consultation with the director of the office of victim services and
45 the office of victim assistance, shall develop and prepare a standard-
46 ized form for the use of district attorney offices for the purpose of
47 reporting compliance with this section. The form is to be distributed to
48 each district attorney. Every district attorney's office in the state
49 shall complete the reporting form annually and send it to the director
50 of the office of victim services by the first day of January each year
51 subsequent to the effective date of this subdivision.
52 (b) A copy of the report shall be retained by the district attorney
53 and upon request, a victim of a crime or relative of a victim shall be
54 entitled to receive from the district attorney a copy of their district
55 attorney's annual report without charge. Any other person requesting a
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1 copy of the report shall pay a fee not to exceed the actual cost of
2 reproduction.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
4 have become a law.
