What's happening
This bill requires courts to set a minimum bail of $200,000 for school employees accused of sexual offenses against students.
Why it matters
Sets a high financial barrier for release. By mandating a minimum bail of $200,000 for school employees accused of sexual offenses against students, the bill significantly raises the stakes for defendants, potentially keeping more of them in custody before trial and signaling the seriousness with which these offenses are viewed.
Targets a specific group and type of crime. This requirement applies only to employees of school districts accused of sexual offenses (as defined in Article 130 of the penal law) where the alleged victim is a student, reflecting heightened concerns about the vulnerability of children and the breach of trust involved in these cases.
May impact pretrial detention and due process. The high minimum bail could result in accused individuals remaining in jail prior to trial if they cannot afford bail, raising questions about fairness, presumption of innocence, and whether bail amounts should be tied to flight risk or ability to pay rather than the nature of the alleged crime alone.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Raise Bail for School Offenses
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
1 Multi-sponsor
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2033
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 22, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ, D'URSO, COLTON, JAFFEE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to increasing the minimum bail for sexual offenses of a school official against a student
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new section 520.50 to read as follows: § 520.50 Minimum bail; school official sexual offenses against students.
Where a court fixes bail for an employee of a school district accused of an offense defined in article one hundred thirty of the penal law, and where the alleged victim of such offense is a student, the amount of bail fixed shall be no less than two hundred thousand dollars.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05846-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.