STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 321 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GALLIVAN, BORRELLO, MATTERA, OBERACKER, PALUMBO, RHOADS, STEC, WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to third party statements to the parole board The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subparagraph (A) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of 2 section 259-i of the executive law, as amended by chapter 322 of the 3 laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows: 4 (A) Discretionary release on parole shall not be granted merely as a 5 reward for good conduct or efficient performance of duties while 6 confined but after considering if there is a reasonable probability 7 that, if such incarcerated individual is released, [he or she] they will 8 live and remain at liberty without violating the law, and that [his or 9 her] their release is not incompatible with the welfare of society and 10 will not so deprecate the seriousness of [his or her] their crime as to 11 undermine respect for law. In making the parole release decision, the 12 procedures adopted pursuant to subdivision four of section two hundred 13 fifty-nine-c of this article shall require that the following be consid- 14 ered: (i) the institutional record including program goals and accom- 15 plishments, academic achievements, vocational education, training or 16 work assignments, therapy and interactions with staff and incarcerated 17 individuals; (ii) performance, if any, as a participant in a temporary 18 release program; (iii) release plans including community resources, 19 employment, education and training and support services available to the 20 incarcerated individual; (iv) any deportation order issued by the feder- 21 al government against the incarcerated individual while in the custody 22 of the department and any recommendation regarding deportation made by EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01175-01-5
S. 321 2 1 the commissioner of the department pursuant to section one hundred 2 forty-seven of the correction law; (v) any current or prior statement 3 made to the board by the crime victim or the victim's representative, 4 where the crime victim is deceased or is mentally or physically incapac- 5 itated; (vi) the length of the determinate sentence to which the incar- 6 cerated individual would be subject had [he or she] they received a 7 sentence pursuant to section 70.70 or section 70.71 of the penal law for 8 a felony defined in article two hundred twenty or article two hundred 9 twenty-one of the penal law; (vii) the seriousness of the offense with 10 due consideration to the type of sentence, length of sentence and recom- 11 mendations of the sentencing court, the district attorney, the attorney 12 for the incarcerated individual, the pre-sentence probation report as 13 well as consideration of any mitigating and aggravating factors, and 14 activities following arrest prior to confinement; and (viii) prior crim- 15 inal record, including the nature and pattern of offenses, adjustment to 16 any previous probation or parole supervision and institutional confine- 17 ment. The board shall provide toll free telephone access for crime 18 victims. In the case of an oral statement made in accordance with subdi- 19 vision one of section 440.50 of the criminal procedure law, the parole 20 board member shall present a written report of the statement to the 21 parole board. A crime victim's representative shall mean the crime 22 victim's closest surviving relative, the committee or guardian of such 23 person, or the legal representative of any such person. Such statement 24 submitted by the victim or victim's representative may include informa- 25 tion concerning threatening or intimidating conduct toward the victim, 26 the victim's representative, or the victim's family, made by the person 27 sentenced and occurring after the sentencing. Such information may 28 include, but need not be limited to, the threatening or intimidating 29 conduct of any other person who or which is directed by the person 30 sentenced. Any statement by a victim or the victim's representative made 31 to the board shall be maintained by the department in the file provided 32 to the board when interviewing the incarcerated individual in consider- 33 ation of release. A victim or victim's representative who has submitted 34 a written request to the department for the transcript of such interview 35 shall be provided such transcript as soon as it becomes available. Any 36 person interested in the grant or denial of discretionary release under 37 this subdivision shall have the right to submit a written statement of 38 views in support of or in opposition to the granting of discretionary 39 release which the board may consider, except that the board may exclude 40 from consideration information which is irrelevant or unreliable. 41 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.