New York S 9475: Relates to race-blind charging guidelines for prosecution agencies

Bill Text

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S09475 Summary:

BILL NOS09475 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS A10072

&nbsp

SPONSORBAILEY

&nbsp

COSPNSRSTAVISKY

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

&nbsp

Add §296-e, Exec L

&nbsp

Requires the department of criminal justice services to develop, issue, and publish "race-blind charging" guidelines for a process whereby all prosecution agencies that prosecute criminal violations of the law as felonies or misdemeanors, shall implement a process by which an initial review of a case for potential charging is performed based on information, including police reports and criminal histories from the department of justice, from which direct means of identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been removed.

Go to top S09475 Actions:

BILL NOS09475 

&nbsp

03/16/2026REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

04/20/2026REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO CODES

Go to topS09475 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS09475 Floor&nbspVotes:

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

Go to topS09475 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 9475

 IN SENATE

 March 16, 2026
 ___________

 Introduced by Sen. BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
 ment Operations

 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to "race-blind charging"
 guidelines for prosecution agencies

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

 1 Section 1. Legislative Intent. In recent years, the increasing avail-
 2 ability of data regarding criminal justice has raised legitimate ques-
 3 tions regarding racial disparities in how cases are investigated,
 4 charged, and prosecuted. Studies suggest that unknowing or "unconscious"
 5 bias may affect many decisions within the criminal justice system,
 6 despite what may be the best intentions of the actors involved. One
 7 method suggested to address this bias is to create institutional proce-
 8 dures to prevent bias from influencing important decisions. To increase
 9 community confidence in the charging process, and to reduce the poten-
 10 tial for unconscious bias, some district attorney offices employ a meth-
 11 od whereby reports received from the police are stripped of all data
 12 from which the race of the suspect may be determined so that at least
 13 the initial charging assessment of the case is done race-blind. In Cali-
 14 fornia through a partnership with the Stanford Computational Policy Lab
 15 in 2021 created and implemented a race-blind charging system built into
 16 its case management system for most cases. This legislation ensures New
 17 York does the same and takes the necessary steps to address the bias.
 18 § 2. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 296-e to
 19 read as follows:
 20 § 296-e. Race-blind charging. 1. (a) Beginning January first, two
 21 thousand twenty-seven, the department of criminal justice services shall
 22 develop, issue, and publish "race-blind charging" guidelines for a proc-
 23 ess whereby all prosecution agencies, for purposes of this section
 24 defined as agencies, or branches of agencies, that prosecute criminal
 25 violations of the law as felonies or misdemeanors, shall implement a
 26 process by which an initial review of a case for potential charging is
 27 performed based on information, including police reports and criminal

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD14563-01-6

 S. 9475 2

 1 histories from the department of justice, from which direct means of
 2 identifying the race of the suspect, victim, or witness have been
 3 removed or redacted.
 4 (b) Following such department's guidelines, prosecution agencies shall
 5 independently develop and execute versions of this redaction and review
 6 process.
 7 2. Beginning January first, two thousand twenty-eight, cases received
 8 from law enforcement agencies and suspect criminal history documentation
 9 shall be redacted, by the receiving prosecution agency, in order to be
 10 used for a race-blind initial charging evaluation, which shall precede
 11 the ordinary charging evaluation. Such redaction may occur in a separate
 12 version of the document