New York S 3286: Relates to motions for resentencing by the people

Bill Text

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S03286 Summary:

BILL NOS03286 

&nbsp

SAME ASNo Same As

&nbsp

SPONSORMYRIE

&nbsp

COSPNSRCOMRIE, KRUEGER

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Add §440.48, CP L

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Allows for motions for resentencing by the people for certain sentences.

Go to top S03286 Actions:

BILL NOS03286 

&nbsp

01/24/2025REFERRED TO CODES

01/07/2026REFERRED TO CODES

Go to topS03286 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS03286 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topS03286 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 3286

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 January 24, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by Sens. MYRIE, COMRIE, KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered
 printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

 AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to motions for
 resentencing by the people

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
 2 1. People who commit crimes grow and change over time. The commission
 3 of a crime--no matter the offense--need not define a person forever.
 4 Continued incarceration of people who no longer pose a risk to community
 5 safety is not in the public interest and only makes our State and socie-
 6 ty less humane.
 7 2. Yet after a person is sentenced, we provide few meaningful mech-
 8 anisms to review the length of that sentence based on how a person
 9 responds to incarceration. We limit these opportunities even though at
 10 the time of sentencing, all involved--including prosecutors, judges,
 11 defense attorneys, and even the person sentenced--are not positioned to
 12 determine with any precision how long a sentence needs to be in order to
 13 fulfill the purpose of incarceration. It is impossible to predict how
 14 individuals will develop during incarceration.
 15 3. The result of this system is thousands of people still serving
 16 prison terms despite having long-since been rehabilitated. Our system
 17 traps tens of thousands of people in New York's prisons who are not a
 18 safety risk, many for life or de facto life sentences.
 19 4. Our failure to provide a meaningful opportunity for release also
 20 traps a large number of people in prison who are serving sentences
 21 imposed during the tough-on-crime era that we would not impose today.
 22 5. Our overreliance on lengthy sentences helped explode New York's
 23 prison population.
 24 a. In 1980, New York incarcerated just over 20,000 people. Despite
 25 recent efforts to reduce the state's prison population, there remain

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD06371-01-5

 S. 3286 2

 1 over 45,000 people in our State's prisons, and over 70,000 people when
 2 jail and prison populations are combined. Even with recent reductions,
 3 New York's incarceration rate remains nearly 2.5-times what it was in
 4 1980, as the State incarcerates 249 people per 100,000.
 5 b. Currently, more than 9,000 people in New York prisons are serving a
 6 life or virtual life sentence. This is the ninth highest percentage of
 7 people in prison serving such sentences in the country.
 8 c. Too many people are serving life sentences for crimes committed
 9 before they even turned twenty years old.
 10 d. Over a third of people in New York's prisons are serving sentences
 11 of 10 years or more; more than 8,500 people have been in prison for at
 12 least 20 years.
 13 e. Over 90% of people in prison in New York are incarcerated for
 14 either a first or second felony offense and more than 40% had never
 15 previously served a jail or prison sentence.
 16 6. New York's reliance on determinate sentences has particularly
 17 contributed to the increased number of people serving sentences who no
 18 longer pose a risk to public safety. A person serving a determinate
 19 sentence in New York must serve at least 6/7 of the sentence before
 20 release is possible.
 21 a. The total number of people serving a determinate sentence has
 22 tripled since 2001.
 23 b. Currently 60% of people in prison are serving a determinate
 24 sentence.
 25 c. 98% of all people convicted of a drug crime in New York