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Who cares
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Sponsors
4 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to crime victims, crime and correction
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.
Relates to the duty of the state board of parole in reporting parole statistics
In Senate Committee · Crime Victims, Crime And Correction · Sponsor Luis R. Sepúlveda
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7844
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the duties of the state board of parole
Purpose
This bill directs the Board of Parole to add to their annual report the demographic data of persons considered for release
Summary of provisions
Section 1 amends subdivision 13 of section 259-c of the executive law to provide that the parole board shall publish demographic data including race, ethnicity, region of commitment and other relevant data regarding the persons it considers for release in its statutorily required annual report to the governor and the legislature.
Section 2 provides for an effective date.
Justification
The Board of Parole has reported that it does not track release decisions by age, ethnicity or other standard criteria maintained by the Department of Correctional Services. In a public hearing in 2013, the Board chair testified that it has remained completely neutral with respect to demographic comparisons in its parole release decision-making process but admitted that the Board maintains no demographic data to support that claim. The chair also testified that the Board gives no special consideration to the characteristics of inmates which are known to indicate a low risk of recidivism, characteristics like age and category of crime, and has no ability to make sure that discriminatory decisions are not being made based on race, ethnicity, region of commitment, type of offense, age or gender.
The Board claims that race is not a factor in its decisions, but since the Board has never documented race or other demographic data of persons it considers for release, the Board cannot know whether it is in fact as neutral as it purports to be. Because the Department of Correctional Services documents and reports on the demographics of its inmates in a large variety of categories, the ability to track such data and report on it is already available at no additional cost to taxpayers. The Board should be able to reflect on its own performance and lay to rest any claims of disparate treatment.
Existing law
None
Legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
Minimal to none in consideration of the fact that the data is already tracked by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and that the Board already is required to issue an annual report.
Local fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.