Bill Text: NY A05136 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to establishing gang court pilot programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - referred to ways and means [A05136 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A05136-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5136
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 6, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS, SKARTADOS -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Judiciary
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  judiciary law, in relation to establishing gang
          courts; and providing for the repeal of such provisions  upon  expira-
          tion thereof
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Findings. The legislature hereby finds and  declares  that
     2  the  growth  of  criminal  gang  activities have created a public safety
     3  crisis and social disorder in many communities across our state. To this
     4  point, our system of justice has failed to successfully deter the spread
     5  of this  criminality.  Whether  it  is  the  distribution  and  sale  of
     6  controlled  substances,  street  crime,  gun  violence,  prostitution or
     7  simply the climate of fear, intimidation, and disorder that  poison  our
     8  neighborhoods,  many  afflicted  localities appear to be under siege. To
     9  address this problem, the state should be flexible and  seek  integrated
    10  ways  of  employing  the  resources of our judicial and criminal justice
    11  system and other state and local entities.
    12    Based on the foregoing findings the legislature hereby  declares  that
    13  the  New  York  unified  court system should be empowered to establish a
    14  gang court  pilot  program  within  available  appropriations,  to  help
    15  address  these broad based issues. The legislature contemplates that the
    16  program authorized in this act may consist of two special  gang  courts,
    17  one  in  the  county of Orange and one in the county of Suffolk, to hear
    18  and determine gang related criminal cases, properly venued in compliance
    19  with the criminal procedure law, from  within  each  respective  county,
    20  commencing  no  later  than  January  first,  two  thousand eighteen and
    21  continuing, at least, until January first, two thousand twenty-three.
    22    The legislature  declares  that  the  resources  necessary  for  these
    23  special  gang  parts  of  the  courts of Orange county and the courts of
    24  Suffolk county can be made  available  only  through  a  combination  of
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08838-01-7
        A. 5136                             2
     1  federal  funds from the law enforcement assistance administration of the
     2  United States department of justice, and state and local funds, services
     3  and facilities.
     4    §  2. The judiciary law is amended by adding a new article 5-C to read
     5  as follows:
     6                                 ARTICLE 5-C
     7                          GANG COURT PILOT PROGRAM
     8  Section 178.   Special gang parts; establishment.
     9          178-a. Transfer of cases to special gang parts.
    10          178-b. Procedure in a special gang part.
    11    § 178. Special gang parts; establishment. 1. There may be  established
    12  in  the courts of Orange county and the courts of Suffolk county special
    13  gang parts in such numbers and at such locations as shall be  designated
    14  by  the  chief  administrator of the courts, by administrative order, to
    15  effectuate the purposes of  this  article  subject  to  availability  of
    16  adequate  funding  within money appropriated within a given fiscal year.
    17  Such parts shall hear and determine gang related criminal cases assigned
    18  thereto from any court within such counties.
    19    2. The chief administrator for the courts, in  consultation  with  all
    20  appropriate  state  and  county agencies, may request that all currently
    21  available resources be made available to the special  gang  court  parts
    22  and  authorize these special parts to develop and implement new programs
    23  as deemed necessary to further the administration of justice.
    24    For purposes of this article, "criminal gang" is defined as a group of
    25  three or more persons who,  through  the  organization,  formation,  and
    26  establishment  of  an  assemblage,  share  a  common identity and, whose
    27  members, as a core undertaking of their group, actively engage in crimi-
    28  nal conduct in violation of the penal law.
    29    § 178-a. Transfer of cases to special gang parts. Notwithstanding  any
    30  other  provision  of  law,  upon  or  after arraignment on an accusatory
    31  instrument charging a criminal offense committed by a member of a crimi-
    32  nal gang as part of, or in the course of  such  illegal  activities  and
    33  conduct  in  which such gang is purportedly engaging filed in a criminal
    34  court within Orange county or within Suffolk county and before entry  of
    35  a plea of guilty or commencement of trial, such court may order that the
    36  accusatory  instrument  and action be assigned to the respective special
    37  gang part of the Orange county or Suffolk county court systems.
    38    § 178-b. Procedure in a special gang part. The trial of any accusatory
    39  instrument in a special gang part shall for all purposes be deemed to be
    40  a trial, like any other criminal proceeding conducted in  Orange  county
    41  and  Suffolk county respectively, in which the accusatory instrument was
    42  filed, but the chief administrator of the courts may  promulgate  rules,
    43  orders  or  regulations  to  be  applicable  to  such parts in place and
    44  instead of the rules, orders or regulations applicable to courts in  the
    45  county  where  the  indictment  was filed. The chief administrator shall
    46  provide by rule, order or regulation for at least the following matters:
    47  the procedure of the part; its auxiliary  services;  the  assignment  of
    48  judicial  personnel;  the  appointment  of terms; and transmittal of all
    49  papers in the action, including all undertakings for appearances of  the
    50  defendant  and  of  the  witnesses,  to the part of the supreme court to
    51  which the action has been assigned consistent with the  criminal  proce-
    52  dure law.
    53    §  3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
    54  ing the date on which it shall have become a law and shall expire and be
    55  deemed repealed 5 years after such effective date.