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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S2316
Title of bill
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to sentencing of persistent violent felony offenders and persistent felony offenders and to repeal subdivision 3 of section 70.08 of such law relating to minimum periods of imprisonment for persistent violent felony offenders
Summary
This is an act to require life imprisonment without possibility of parole for persistent felony offenders if one of the three required convictions for such status is a violent felony offense class A, B, C, D, or E. This bill would increase penalty and sentence for a persistent felony offender whose convictions rise above that of three non-violent felony offenses.
Justification
When a felon is convicted of three felony offenses the sentence imposed by PL Article 70 ranges from a minimum of 3-4 years (for a Class E felony on the current conviction) up to a court imposed sentence of 15-25 years (for a Class A-1 felony on the current conviction). This enables proven violent felons with two previous felony convictions to be back on the streets in record time (their minimum sentence minus 1/3 time) if put on parole. The effects of this were most blatantly apparent in the shooting death of Bronx undercover Police Detective Sean Carrington on January 19, 1998 by persistent felony offender Leon Smith who had been released on parole just nine days prior. Smith had been convicted of two felonies in the 1980's (Drugs and Weapons, and Grand Larceny) and in 1986 was convicted of Manslaughter in the first degree after having pleaded down a murder charge. He was paroled from these convictions on January 9, 1998. This bill would give more attention to persistent felony offenders who have a proven record of violent criminal behavior.
Fiscal implications
Because the average sentence spent for persistent felony offenders is nine years, there would be no fiscal implications until that time. It would be safe to project that any potential prison overpopulation would be negated by the decreased incidence of the crime due to stricter sentencing.
Effective date
First of November next succeeding the date it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.