Provides that any person interested in the grant or denial of discretionary release shall have the right to submit a written statement of views in support of or in opposition to the granting of discretionary release which the parole board may consider.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
189
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. GALLIVAN, MATTERA, OBERACKER, PALUMBO, STEC, WEIK --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to third party statements
to the parole board
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (A) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of
2 section 259-i of the executive law, as amended by chapter 322 of the
3 laws of 2021 is amended to read as follows:
4 (A) Discretionary release on parole shall not be granted merely as a
5 reward for good conduct or efficient performance of duties while
6 confined but after considering if there is a reasonable probability
7 that, if such incarcerated individual is released, he or she will live
8 and remain at liberty without violating the law, and that his or her
9 release is not incompatible with the welfare of society and will not so
10 deprecate the seriousness of his or her crime as to undermine respect
11 for law. In making the parole release decision, the procedures adopted
12 pursuant to subdivision four of section two hundred fifty-nine-c of this
13 article shall require that the following be considered: (i) the institu-
14 tional record including program goals and accomplishments, academic
15 achievements, vocational education, training or work assignments, thera-
16 py and interactions with staff and incarcerated individuals; (ii)
17 performance, if any, as a participant in a temporary release program;
18 (iii) release plans including community resources, employment, education
19 and training and support services available to the incarcerated individ-
20 ual; (iv) any deportation order issued by the federal government against
21 the incarcerated individual while in the custody of the department and
22 any recommendation regarding deportation made by the commissioner of the
23 department pursuant to section one hundred forty-seven of the correction
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00198-01-3
S. 189 2
1 law; (v) any current or prior statement made to the board by the crime
2 victim or the victim's representative, where the crime victim is
3 deceased or is mentally or physically incapacitated; (vi) the length of
4 the determinate sentence to which the incarcerated individual would be
5 subject had he or she received a sentence pursuant to section 70.70 or
6 section 70.71 of the penal law for a felony defined in article two
7 hundred twenty or article two hundred twenty-one of the penal law; (vii)
8 the seriousness of the offense with due consideration to the type of
9 sentence, length of sentence and recommendations of the sentencing
10 court, the district attorney, the attorney for the incarcerated individ-
11 ual, the pre-sentence probation report as well as consideration of any
12 mitigating and aggravating factors, and activities following arrest
13 prior to confinement; and (viii) prior criminal record, including the
14 nature and pattern of offenses, adjustment to any previous probation or
15 parole supervision and institutional confinement. The board shall
16 provide toll free telephone access for crime victims. In the case of an
17 oral statement made in accordance with subdivision one of section 440.50
18 of the criminal procedure law, the parole board member shall present a
19 written report of the statement to the parole board. A crime victim's
20 representative shall mean the crime victim's closest surviving relative,
21 the committee or guardian of such person, or the legal representative of
22 any such person. Such statement submitted by the victim or victim's
23 representative may include information concerning threatening or intim-
24 idating conduct toward the victim, the victim's representative, or the
25 victim's family, made by the person sentenced and occurring after the
26 sentencing. Such information may include, but need not be limited to,
27 the threatening or intimidating conduct of any other person who or which
28 is directed by the person sentenced. Any statement by a victim or the
29 victim's representative made to the board shall be maintained by the
30 department in the file provided to the board when interviewing the
31 incarcerated individual in consideration of release. A victim or
32 victim's representative who has submitted a written request to the
33 department for the transcript of such interview shall be provided such
34 transcript as soon as it becomes available. Any person interested in
35 the grant or denial of discretionary release under this subdivision
36 shall have the right to submit a written statement of views in support
37 of or in opposition to the granting of discretionary release which the
38 board may consider, except that the board may exclude from consideration
39 information which is irrelevant or unreliable.
40 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
