STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
497--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, COMRIE, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, MONTGOMERY, MYRIE,
PARKER, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, THOMAS -- read
twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the
Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to findings of the state
board of parole necessary for discretionary release of incarcerated
persons on parole
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 130 of the
3 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
4 (A) Discretionary release on parole shall [not] be granted [merely as
5 a 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 inmate is released, he will live and remain at liberty
8 without violating the law, and that his release is not incompatible with
9 the welfare of society and will not so deprecate the seriousness of his
10 crime as to undermine respect for law] to any incarcerated person
11 appearing before the board who is eligible for release on parole, unless
12 the parole case record demonstrates there is a current and unreasonable
13 risk the person will violate the law if released and such risk cannot be
14 mitigated by parole supervision. In making the parole release decision,
15 the procedures adopted pursuant to subdivision four of section two
16 hundred fifty-nine-c of this article shall require that the following be
17 considered: (i) the institutional record including program goals and
18 accomplishments, academic achievements, vocational education, training
19 or work assignments, therapy and interactions with staff and [inmates]
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05592-03-9
S. 497--A 2
1 incarcerated persons; (ii) performance, if any, as a participant in a
2 temporary release program; (iii) release plans including community
3 resources, employment, education and training and support services
4 available to the [inmate] incarcerated person; (iv) any deportation
5 order issued by the federal government against the [inmate] incarcerated
6 person while in the custody of the department and any recommendation
7 regarding deportation made by the commissioner of the department pursu-
8 ant to section one hundred forty-seven of the correction law; (v) any
9 current or prior statement made to the board by the crime victim or the
10 victim's representative, where the crime victim is deceased or is
11 mentally or physically incapacitated; (vi) the length of the determinate
12 sentence to which the [inmate] incarcerated person would be subject had
13 he or she received a sentence pursuant to section 70.70 or section 70.71
14 of the penal law for a felony defined in article two hundred twenty or
15 article two hundred twenty-one of the penal law; (vii) the seriousness
16 of the offense with due consideration to the type of sentence, length of
17 sentence and recommendations of the sentencing court, the district
18 attorney, the attorney for the [inmate] incarcerated person, the pre-
19 sentence probation report as well as consideration of any mitigating and
20 aggravating factors, and activities following arrest prior to confine-
21 ment; [and] (viii) prior criminal record, including the nature and
22 pattern of offenses, adjustment to any previous probation or parole
23 supervision and institutional confinement; and (ix) all evidence of
24 rehabilitation and reform. The board shall provide toll free telephone
25 access for crime victims. In the case of an oral statement made in
26 accordance with subdivision one of section 440.50 of the criminal proce-
27 dure law, the parole board member shall present a written report of the
28 statement to the parole board. A crime victim's representative shall
29 mean the crime victim's closest surviving relative, the committee or
30 guardian of such person, or the legal representative of any such person.
31 Such statement submitted by the victim or victim's representative may
32 include information concerning threatening or intimidating conduct
33 toward the victim, the victim's representative, or the victim's family,
34 made by the person sentenced and occurring after the sentencing. Such
35 information may include, but need not be limited to, the threatening or
36 intimidating conduct of any other person who or which is directed by the
37 person sentenced. Any statement by a victim or the victim's represen-
38 tative made to the board shall be maintained by the department in the
39 file provided to the board when interviewing the [inmate] incarcerated
40 person in consideration of release. A victim or victim's representative
41 who has submitted a written request to the department for the transcript
42 of such interview shall be provided such transcript as soon as it
43 becomes available.
44 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
