Creates a pilot program for parent workshops for parents of newborn infants who may be considered at risk for negative parenting outcomes

Section 2: This section of the bill would amend the Penal Law to make clear the term "fine" does not encompass a mandatory surcharge or a crime victim assistance fee, as later defined by the bill.

Section 3: This section of the bill would amend the Penal law to impose a fee of $250 for each of a mandatory surcharge and a crime victim assistance fee when a person is convicted of a violent felony offense, This section also raises such surcharge and crime victim assistance fee when a person is convicted of any other felony, misdemeanor or violation. Further, this section would require the state comptroller or the state commissioner of taxation and finance, as the case may be, to divide crime victim assistance fees collected between the crime victim assistance account or the better parenting trust account, which account the fees will be credited to is determined by whether the victim of the crime for which a fee has been paid is eighteen years of age or younger.

Section 4: This section of the bill would establish a crime victim assistance account under the joint custody of the state comptroller and the attorney general to fund services to crime victims and witnesses subject to certain restrictions and limitations.

Section 5: This section of the bill would establish a Better Parenting Trust Account under the joint custody of the state comptroller and the attorney general to be used exclusively for the Parenting Workshop Pilot Program created under Section 1 of this bill.

Justification

Reports have established that while overall crime rates have decreased in New York State over the past year, juvenile crimes has significantly increased. It is well established that children do not suddenly become prone to delinquent or violent behavior.

It has also been established that the family and community environment in which the children develop, account in large part for their proclivity towards delinquent or violent behavior.

Researchers have identified certain family risk factors which may be responsible for such behavior, including child abuse or neglect, lack of parent and child bonding, unduly harsh or erratic parental discipline, and parental absence.

The Parenting Workshop Pilot Program created under this bill would address, at the very earliest possible moment-birth--all of the family factors identified. The program has been designed so that both rural and urban areas are targeted both of which have experienced an increase in juvenile delinquency, as well as focusing on various locations through- out the State, including Long Island, Buffalo Westchester, Rochester, Syracuse, New York City, Watertown, Binghamton, and the Capital Region, protecting innocent children from abuse and preventing them from becoming juvenile delinquents, by strengthening the family and the skills of parents.

In so doing this program holds the greatest promise for the children of our State and will best protect all of its citizens.

Fiscal implications

This bill will be revenue neutral since the funding for this pilot program will be derived exclusively from fees paid by persons convicted of crimes when the victim of the crime was a person eighteen years of age or younger.

Prior legislative history

2008 - S.1961: Referred to Senate Finance Committee.

Effective date

This bill would become effective on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.