NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9520
SPONSOR: Lentol TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in
relation to preliminary proceedings involving apparently eligible juve-
nile offenders
This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of
the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Advisory
Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure.
This measure would amend CPL 270.15(3) to provide that an accusatory
instrument charging a juvenile offender who is eligible for youthful
offender status be filed as a sealed instrument with respect to the
public while the case is pending in a local criminal court. If the youth
is subsequently indicted, the preliminary sealing would end.
CPL Article 720 sets forth a youthful offender procedure, and authorizes
the sealing of case records of criminal proceedings brought against
persons between the ages of 13 and 19 for the purpose of preventing such
youths from being stigmatized "with criminal records triggered by hasty
or thoughtless acts which, although crimes, may not have been the seri-
ous deeds of hardened criminals." Capital Newspapers Division of the
Hearst Corporation v. Moynihan, 71 N.Y.2d 263, 267-268 (1988)(quoting
People v. Drayton, 39 N.Y.2d 580, 584 (1976)). For youths 16-19 years
old, "(w)hen an accusatory instrument is filed against a youth apparent-
ly eligible for youthful offender treatment, it shall be filed as a
sealed instrument, though only with respect to the public" (CPL
720.15(1)). The court also has discretion to conduct the proceedings in
private (CPL 720.15(1)). As noted in the Practice Commentary to section
720.15, this allows the youth to be insulated "from the adverse public-
ity that may cause a blot on their future." It is fitting because when a
case is likely to end in a youthful offender adjudication, which auto-
matically renders the case record confidential, the sealing of the case
may be of little use if the proceedings are made public ahead of the
youthful offender adjudication.
Juvenile offenders, however, are excluded from the protection of the
statute because, although they are 13, 14 and 15 year old youths prose-
cuted in adult criminal court, they stand accused of having committed a
designated felony. Felony cases are expressly excluded from the statuto-
ry protections of CPL 720.15 (see CPL 720.15(3)). Nonetheless, in eval-
uating the spectrum of children society should want to avoid having the
'lifelong stigma of a criminal conviction,' the younger the child, the
more compelling the need to insulate him or her from the 'adverse
publicity that may cause a blot on their future.' This is especially
true while cases against juvenile offenders are pending in local crimi-
nal court, prior to any indictment. It is during those proceedings that
mitigating circumstances can be brought to the attention of the court
and the prosecutor that may result in the case being removed to Family
Court prior to indictment, by the court, the prosecutor or the grand
jury (see e.g., CPL Article 725).
The current measure extends preliminary protection to juvenile offenders
in the local criminal court by requiring an accusatory instrument be
filed against an apparently eligible juvenile offender as a sealed
instrument. It also permits the court, on consent of the youth, to hold
preliminary proceedings in private. Notably, the protection applies only
while the case is pending in local criminal court. Thus, it is designed
to protect the juvenile offender from public opprobrium at the outset of
the case, and before the case is transferred to superior court as a
result of indictment. This provision will therefore benefit the juvenile
offender whose case is either dismissed or removed to Family Court prior
to indictment. This measure, which would have no fiscal impact, would
take effect immediately and apply to criminal actions commenced on or
after the effective date of this act.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None. New proposal.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9520
IN ASSEMBLY
March 10, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LENTOL -- (at request of the Office of Court
Administration) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to preliminary
proceedings involving apparently eligible juvenile offenders
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 720.15 of the criminal procedure
2 law, as amended by chapter 774 of the laws of 1985, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 3. The provisions of subdivisions one and two of this section requir-
5 ing or authorizing the accusatory instrument filed against a youth to be
6 sealed, and the arraignment and all proceedings in the action to be
7 conducted in private shall not apply in connection with a pending charge
8 of committing any felony offense as defined in the penal law, except
9 where the youth is a juvenile offender and the accusatory instrument is
10 pending in a local criminal court. The provisions of subdivision one
11 requiring the accusatory instrument filed against a youth to be sealed
12 shall not apply where such youth has previously been adjudicated a
13 youthful offender or convicted of a crime.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to crimi-
15 nal actions commenced on or after such effective date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13991-01-6
