Expands geographical jurisdiction for crimes attendant to identity theft or unlawful possession of personal information

Title of bill

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to expanding the geographical jurisdiction for crimes attendant to identify theft or unlawful possession of personal identification information

Purpose

Amends the criminal procedure law to allow prosecutors and criminal courts to try crimes committed in the same transaction as identity theft or the unlawful possession of personal identification information in the same venue.

Summary of provisions

Section 1. Creates a new subdivision 5 of section 20.10 of the criminal procedure law, which provides for the definition of criminal transaction.

Section 2. Amends paragraph (1) of subdivision 4 of section 20.40 of the criminal procedure law, which expands the geographical jurisdiction of counties to hear crimes committed in the same transaction as identity theft or the unlawful possession of personal identification information in the same venue.

Section 3. Provides for the effective date.

Justification

Under paragraph (1) of subdivision 4 of section 20.40 of the criminal procedure law, county courts have been granted the power to try a case where the defendant has been alleged to commit the crime of either identity theft or the unlawful possession of personal identification information. This paragraph was created in 2002 to assist in the prosecution of the relatively new crime of identity theft. Paragraph (1) gave the prosecution multiple venues to prosecute since the crime of identity theft or the unlawful possession of personal identification information could have been perpetrated in one county, while the impact of such conduct impacted the residents of two other separate counties.

The amendment to paragraph (1) of subdivision 4 of section 20.40 of the criminal procedure law proposed in this legislation corrects another problem associated with these crimes. Many times other crimes alleged to have occurred within the same criminal transaction may not be prosecuted before the same criminal court. Thus, crimes such as larceny and criminal possession of stolen property are either not prosecuted or prosecuted in another county court, creating an undue burden on the courts.

This legislation will create a more efficient court system and avoid the possibility of inconsistent verdicts.

Legislative history

This is new legislation.

Fiscal implications

This legislation would create a savings to the state.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the one-hundred eightieth day after it shall have become law.