Despite the COVID-19 public health crisis (and, in part, because of it), the New York City Bar Association’s criminal committees have been hard at work addressing criminal justice reform issues on multiple fronts. While these efforts focused on the pandemic in the spring, new (and not so new) issues came crashing into focus in the late spring and early summer.
Civil Rights and Police Reform
The police killing of George Floyd, following several other high-profile, police-involved killings, sparked a resurgence of racial tension and division across the country beginning in late May. The ensuing mass protests caused a cascade of advocacy and action. In the wake of protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism in June, we called on Mayor de Blasio and the New York Police Department to investigate the alleged targeting, harassment, and detention of legal observers at protests in the Bronx.
The New York State Legislature called a special session to pass a wide range of police reform measures. This included the repeal of New York Civil Rights Law 50-a, which will allow for public disclosure of police records relating to police misconduct. This new law, which has long been supported by the New York City Bar Association, is an important step towards restoring the public’s trust in police accountability.
Under the direction of City Bar President Sheila S. Boston, a panel was convened in July to discuss some of the tensions confronting our society and the challenges of advancing change in how policing and law enforcement are carried out in the U.S. “The Policing of Black and Brown Bodies,” featured Loretta Lynch (former U.S. Attorney General), Paul Fishman (former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey), Nicole Austin-Hillery (Executive Director, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch), J. Scott Thomson (former Chief of the Camden County Police Department and former President of the Police Executive Research Forum), and Lorenzo Boyd (VP for Diversity and Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer, University of New Haven).
In September, we issued a report, “Police Reform Efforts in New York State and New York City: More to Do,” which offered potential next steps for reform in the wake of various bills adopted at the City and State level. The report argued that “substantial and systemic change is the only appropriate response to address abusive – and sometimes deadly – use of force by police officers, often deployed without consequence, and the only way to ensure that police officers are held to the highest standard as public servants,” and outlined several areas in which policy makers should focus on reforms.
And in November, we followed up with another panel on police reform, “Policing Black and Brown Communities in NYC: Reckoning with the Past and Envisioning a Better Future,” which focused on state and local policing. Moderated by Graham Rayman of the New York Daily News, the panel featured Dawit Getachew (Policy Counsel, The Bronx Defenders), Joo-Hyun Kang (Director, Communities United for Police Reform), Deanna Logan (Deputy Director for Crime Strategies, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), and Benjamin Tucker (First Deputy Commissioner, New York City Police Department).
Juvenile Justice
The City Bar supported two pieces of State legislation related to juvenile justice that were signed into law this fall. It is critical that this vulnerable population be adequately protected when they come into contact with the justice system and we applaud the Legislature and Governor for their attention to these issues.
The first new law authorizes judges to waive certain court fees for juvenile offenders. Such fees can impose a severe financial burden on people who lack the means to pay them, often pushing such individuals further into poverty and making it more difficult for them to successfully reintegrate into society and contribute to their communities. And such impacts are particularly severe for youth, who lack access to financial resources; this, in turn, can have profound impacts on entire families and contribute to increased rates of recidivism.
It will also soon be required to video record interrogations of juveniles in juvenile delinquency proceedings in Family Court. Video recording of juvenile interrogations is not an onerous or expensive process, and is already conducted voluntarily in many parts of New York State. The City Bar argued in its report in support that such recordings are crucial to protect youth who come into contact with the criminal and juvenile justice systems, particularly with respect to racial equity: justice-involved youth in New York are overwhelmingly Black or Hispanic. “Transparency in the investigation process is an especially critical need in systems where disparate minority contact is so clear…. In an age of increasing accountability for police misconduct, the need for this law is clear to us.”
Looking Ahead
Our committees are continuing to work on an ambitious slate of criminal justice reform measures.
In keeping with the City Bar’s longstanding focus on community reentry and preventing recidivism, we recently sent a letter urging Governor Cuomo to sign the Proximity Bill (A.6710-A/S.724-A), which would require the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to place incarcerated parents in facilities close to their children – a reform that would benefit not only the 80,000 children with parents incarcerated in New York State prisons, but also help incarcerated individuals maintain family relationships that are critical for preventing recidivism and promoting successful community reentry. As this newsletter was going to print, we were pleased to see Governor Cuomo sign the Proximity Bill into law.
We plan to continue building support for the Less is More Act (A.5493-A/S.1343-B), which would provide much-needed reforms to the administration of parole supervision by eliminating incarceration for most minor non-criminal violations, requiring prompt judicial review of parole warrants, placing caps on revocation sanctions, and incentivizing parole compliance by shortening supervision terms based on good behavior. And we will continue to advocate for City Bar-drafted reform proposals, including the Justice Safety Valve Act (S.5712), which would amend the Penal Law to give judges the ability to impose sentences that fall below statutory mandatory minimums if, giving due regard to the nature of the crime, history, and character of the defendant, and his or her chances of successful rehabilitation, the court finds that (a) the imposition of the mandatory minimum would result in substantial injustice, and (b) the mandatory minimum sentence is not necessary for the protection of the public; and the Second Chance Amendment (A.8588/S.7681), which would provide a mechanism for the modification of certain prison sentences for eligible applicants by allowing a motion for reduction of a sentence after the individual has served a specified portion of that sentence or a certain number of years on the grounds that the sentence was excessive.
Our committees will also continue to focus on police reform, and will be developing policy recommendations in anticipation of the 2021 New York City Mayoral race. Finally, in anticipation of a new federal administration in January 2021, our committees are working on transition memos with policy recommendations for the Biden-Harris transition team.
We are grateful to our hardworking committees and to City Bar President Sheila S. Boston for her commitment to criminal justice reform, which is one of the pillars of her #BarOfHope agenda for her presidency. We look forward to continuing the City Bar’s work in promoting fairness and due process in the criminal justice system.
See all of the City Bar’s work on criminal justice, police reform, and civil rights here.
Despite the COVID-19 public health crisis (and, in part, because of it), the New York City Bar Association’s criminal committees have been hard at work addressing criminal justice reform issues on multiple fronts. While these efforts focused on the pandemic in the spring, new (and not so new) issues came crashing into focus in the late spring and early summer.
Civil Rights and Police Reform
The police killing of George Floyd, following several other high-profile, police-involved killings, sparked a resurgence of racial tension and division across the country beginning in late May. The ensuing mass protests caused a cascade of advocacy and action. In the wake of protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism in June, we called on Mayor de Blasio and the New York Police Department to investigate the alleged targeting, harassment, and detention of legal observers at protests in the Bronx.
The New York State Legislature called a special session to pass a wide range of police reform measures. This included the repeal of New York Civil Rights Law 50-a, which will allow for public disclosure of police records relating to police misconduct. This new law, which has long been supported by the New York City Bar Association, is an important step towards restoring the public’s trust in police accountability.
Under the direction of City Bar President Sheila S. Boston, a panel was convened in July to discuss some of the tensions confronting our society and the challenges of advancing change in how policing and law enforcement are carried out in the U.S. “The Policing of Black and Brown Bodies,” featured Loretta Lynch (former U.S. Attorney General), Paul Fishman (former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey), Nicole Austin-Hillery (Executive Director, U.S. Program, Human Rights Watch), J. Scott Thomson (former Chief of the Camden County Police Department and former President of the Police Executive Research Forum), and Lorenzo Boyd (VP for Diversity and Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer, University of New Haven).
In September, we issued a report, “Police Reform Efforts in New York State and New York City: More to Do,” which offered potential next steps for reform in the wake of various bills adopted at the City and State level. The report argued that “substantial and systemic change is the only appropriate response to address abusive – and sometimes deadly – use of force by police officers, often deployed without consequence, and the only way to ensure that police officers are held to the highest standard as public servants,” and outlined several areas in which policy makers should focus on reforms.
And in November, we followed up with another panel on police reform, “Policing Black and Brown Communities in NYC: Reckoning with the Past and Envisioning a Better Future,” which focused on state and local policing. Moderated by Graham Rayman of the New York Daily News, the panel featured Dawit Getachew (Policy Counsel, The Bronx Defenders), Joo-Hyun Kang (Director, Communities United for Police Reform), Deanna Logan (Deputy Director for Crime Strategies, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice), and Benjamin Tucker (First Deputy Commissioner, New York City Police Department).
Juvenile Justice
The City Bar supported two pieces of State legislation related to juvenile justice that were signed into law this fall. It is critical that this vulnerable population be adequately protected when they come into contact with the justice system and we applaud the Legislature and Governor for their attention to these issues.
The first new law authorizes judges to waive certain court fees for juvenile offenders. Such fees can impose a severe financial burden on people who lack the means to pay them, often pushing such individuals further into poverty and making it more difficult for them to successfully reintegrate into society and contribute to their communities. And such impacts are particularly severe for youth, who lack access to financial resources; this, in turn, can have profound impacts on entire families and contribute to increased rates of recidivism.
It will also soon be required to video record interrogations of juveniles in juvenile delinquency proceedings in Family Court. Video recording of juvenile interrogations is not an onerous or expensive process, and is already conducted voluntarily in many parts of New York State. The City Bar argued in its report in support that such recordings are crucial to protect youth who come into contact with the criminal and juvenile justice systems, particularly with respect to racial equity: justice-involved youth in New York are overwhelmingly Black or Hispanic. “Transparency in the investigation process is an especially critical need in systems where disparate minority contact is so clear…. In an age of increasing accountability for police misconduct, the need for this law is clear to us.”
Looking Ahead
Our committees are continuing to work on an ambitious slate of criminal justice reform measures.
In keeping with the City Bar’s longstanding focus on community reentry and preventing recidivism, we recently sent a letter urging Governor Cuomo to sign the Proximity Bill (A.6710-A/S.724-A), which would require the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to place incarcerated parents in facilities close to their children – a reform that would benefit not only the 80,000 children with parents incarcerated in New York State prisons, but also help incarcerated individuals maintain family relationships that are critical for preventing recidivism and promoting successful community reentry. As this newsletter was going to print, we were pleased to see Governor Cuomo sign the Proximity Bill into law.
We plan to continue building support for the Less is More Act (A.5493-A/S.1343-B), which would provide much-needed reforms to the administration of parole supervision by eliminating incarceration for most minor non-criminal violations, requiring prompt judicial review of parole warrants, placing caps on revocation sanctions, and incentivizing parole compliance by shortening supervision terms based on good behavior. And we will continue to advocate for City Bar-drafted reform proposals, including the Justice Safety Valve Act (S.5712), which would amend the Penal Law to give judges the ability to impose sentences that fall below statutory mandatory minimums if, giving due regard to the nature of the crime, history, and character of the defendant, and his or her chances of successful rehabilitation, the court finds that (a) the imposition of the mandatory minimum would result in substantial injustice, and (b) the mandatory minimum sentence is not necessary for the protection of the public; and the Second Chance Amendment (A.8588/S.7681), which would provide a mechanism for the modification of certain prison sentences for eligible applicants by allowing a motion for reduction of a sentence after the individual has served a specified portion of that sentence or a certain number of years on the grounds that the sentence was excessive.
Our committees will also continue to focus on police reform, and will be developing policy recommendations in anticipation of the 2021 New York City Mayoral race. Finally, in anticipation of a new federal administration in January 2021, our committees are working on transition memos with policy recommendations for the Biden-Harris transition team.
We are grateful to our hardworking committees and to City Bar President Sheila S. Boston for her commitment to criminal justice reform, which is one of the pillars of her #BarOfHope agenda for her presidency. We look forward to continuing the City Bar’s work in promoting fairness and due process in the criminal justice system.
See all of the City Bar’s work on criminal justice, police reform, and civil rights here.