Provides for the sealing of the court records involving convictions of violations and traffic infractions

Title of bill

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to sealing court records involving convictions for certain petty offenses

This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of her Local Courts Advisory Committee.

This measure would add a new section 160.57 to the Criminal Procedure Law to authorize the sealing of court records relating to convictions for petty offenses.

Currently, section 160.55 of the Criminal Procedure Law authorizes the sealing of records relating to convictions for non-criminal petty offenses such as disorderly conduct or trespass, except for the petty offenses of loitering (Penal Law § 240.35(3)), loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution (Penal Law § 240.37(2)) and driving while ability impaired (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192(1)), which are expressly exempt from the scope of this provision. The records that are sealed under this provision are the files of the police department, the District Attorney's Office, and fingerprints on file with the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The official records and papers of such cases on file with the court, however, are not sealed.

The availability to the public of court records of a conviction for a petty offense can have an adverse collateral consequence for the defendant, who having pled guilty to the petty offense as part of a plea bargain that avoids a conviction for a crime and who is otherwise living a law-abiding life, finds that he or she cannot secure employment or purchase a home because of the conviction for a petty offense.

The sealing procedure authorized by this proposal is as follows: A person who has been convicted of a petty offense must wait one year from the date of sentence before he or she can apply to the court, with notice to the District Attorney, for an order sealing his or her court record. In connection with the application, the District Attorney may consent to the sealing or oppose it, whereupon the court would hold a summary hearing to determine whether the application should be granted. The District Attorney need not wait for the defendant's application and can apply for an order keeping the court record unsealed. In the absence of an application by the defendant or the District Attorney, the court records are automatically sealed 36 months from the date of sentence.

The procedure authorized by this measure seeks to address a prosecutor's public safety concern that a particular defendant not have the benefit of a sealing and the operational concerns of courts facing the prospect of having to process numerous sealing applications. First, unlike the automatic sealing requirements currently in place under the Criminal Procedure Law, this measure would allow the sealing procedure to proceed unless the District Attorney's Office objects and has an opportunity to be heard. Second, the 12- and 36- month deadlines are intended to create cooling off periods that would prevent a deluge of sealing applications to the local criminal court that would otherwise be made were applications to seal permitted at the time of sentence. The 12- and 36- month periods also would provide adequate time for the District Attorney to determine whether the defendant has fully complied with the terms of his or her sentence.

This measure, which would have no fiscal impact upon the State, would take effect on the first day of November after becoming a law.

2008 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None. New measure.