State Commission Recommends Sentencing Reform

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform called for a more streamlined system of consistency and fairness as it outlined recommendations to improve the state’s sentencing structure.

The commission’s preliminary report to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, legislative leaders and Chief Justice Judith S. Kaye characterized New York ‘s sentencing laws as so overly complex, unintelligible and inconsistent that they have created a system permeated with unintended consequences and opportunities for injustice.

The commission outlined a fundamental shift in New York ‘s system of fixed and variable sentences. The report recommends that the state abandon indeterminate sentencing and introduce determinate sentences for more than 200 nonviolent felony offenses.

Commissioners recommended modifying sentencing statutes to permit — with the agreement of judge, prosecution and defense — the imposition of community-based treatment sentences for certain nonviolent felony offenders with substance-abuse problems.

The broader use of graduated sanctions, such as curfews, electronic monitoring and re-entry courts, for parole violations not involving a new crime was suggested as a possible solution to recidivism.

The report suggests expanding prison-based educational and vocational training programs, and enhancing employment and housing assistance to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.

The report also calls for the creation of a permanent commission that would act as an advisory body on sentencing laws for the state’s executive and legislative branches.

The 11-member commission is chaired by Denise E. O’Donnell of the Division of Criminal Justice Services and composed of criminal-justice experts and representatives from the prosecution, defense, legislative, judicial and victims’ rights communities. It is tasked with overhauling a sentencing structure that has not undergone comprehensive review in more than 40 years.

Established by Gov. Spitzer in March 2007, the commission will release its final recommendations in a report this year.