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History
- Print number 5377b
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Referred to codes
- Print number 5377a
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Referred to codes
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Establishes the offense of aggravated criminal conduct as a class E felony
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Michael Cusick
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to aggravated criminal conduct
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Adds a new Penal Law section 240.75 to create the crime of aggravated criminal conduct. A person is guilty of aggravated criminal conduct when he or she commits a qualifying misdemeanor, as specified in this section, after having previously committed six or more such qualifying misdemeanors, or felonies, within the previous year. The punishment for aggravated criminal conduct is a Class E Felony.
Subdivision (2) of this new section would provide that the provisions of Criminal Procedure Law section 200.60, which prohibits allegations of previous convictions in indictments for an offense where such convictions are elements of the offense, shall apply to any prosecutions for aggravated criminal conduct. Section 200.60 provides a procedure for allowing defendants to admit their previous conviction{s} in the absence of the jury, in which case the prosecution may not prove the fact of the previous conviction{s} to the jury. The application of CPL section 200.60 to the offense of aggravated criminal conduct will help protect defendants from potential prejudice by jurors on account of their previous convictions.
Read the full memo (608 words)
This new Penal Law section would also require that all previous convictions must have been in New York courts and that defendants have had their sentences imposed before commission of the present misdemeanor. Suspended sentences, suspended executions of sentences, probation, parole, and conditional and unconditional discharges are deemed to be sentences, but reversed, vacated, or pardoned convictions will not be deemed previous convictions. Multiple sentences for two or more convictions that were imposed at the same time are deemed to constitute only one conviction. Previous convictions already used to convict a defendant of this offense shall not be used to establish guilt for a subsequent prosecution for aggravated criminal conduct. Finally, in calculating the one-year period, any period of time during which the defendant was incarcerated for any reason between the time of sentence for any of the previous convictions and the time of commission of the present misdemeanor will be excluded.
Section 2 would make this bill effective immediately.
Justification
This bill is intended to assist law enforcement to effectively prosecute and sentence repeat misdemeanants, a class of career criminals for which current penalties are ineffective in deterring a continued life of crime. This small number of criminals is disproportionately responsible for a large number of crimes. The current Penal Law does not contain sufficient penalties for individuals who Continue to commit crimes without the fear of any serious repercussions.
This new crime of aggravated criminal conduct would allow law enforcement to prosecute and sentence repeat misdemeanor offenders who are disproportionately responsible for a large number of quality-of-life crimes. For instance, in New York City in 2007, there were 551 offenders with seven or more qualifying criminal convictions in the course of the year - a total of 4,542 convictions among them. Although these individuals only made up 0.8% of all offenders, they accounted for 4.3% of total convictions and some have rap sheets over twenty-five pages long. This small group of high-rate serial misdemeanants has a disparate impact on quality of life in the city and often receives little to no punishment. By allowing prosecutors to prosecute persistent misdemeanants as felons, this law provides law enforcement with the ability to target career criminals who continue to commit crimes with impunity.
This bill was submitted by the City of New York and the Mayor of New York urges that this bill be enacted into law during the 2010 Legislative session.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediate.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.