Criminal Justice

Requires that following the acquittal after trial or the sentencing of any defendant for a felony, the district attorney, or their designee, shall provide by mail, electronically, or by any other reasonable and secure means of written communication a written summary of the disposition of such felony to any victim who was not present at the time that the defendant was sentenced or acquitted after trial.

This bill requires health insurance plans and Medicaid to cover inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment for a minimum of 45 days. It directly affects individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorders by mandating that insurers cannot impose stricter financial limits or treatment restrictions on these services than they do for general medical care. Key provisions include prohibiting extra costs or prior authorization requirements for substance treatment that are more restrictive than those applied to other medical benefits. The law applies to all comprehensive insurance policies and Medicaid plans, ensuring coverage for detoxification, rehabilitation, and medically necessary residential care without arbitrary time limits.

Requires each county to establish a county law enforcement civilian complaint review board to assist the board of supervisors with the investigation of complaints concerning misconduct by members of county law enforcement towards members of the public in a complete, thorough and impartial manner.

Requires the timely disclosure of video footage or audio recordings related to the death of incarcerated individuals involving correction officers or peace officers to the attorney general's office of special investigations (Part A); relates to establishing comprehensive camera coverage for covered facilities and covered vehicles; repeals certain provisions of the correction law relating to requiring institutions and local correctional facilities to adhere to certain standards regarding the camera coverage of incarcerated individuals and detainees, and access to such camera recordings (Part B); clarifies standards for next of kin notifications where an incarcerated individual dies in custody (Part C); relates to the time within which the state commission of correction shall issue a report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly of the findings of a study on deaths in state correctional facilities within the state of New York (Part D); provides access to microscopic slides upon request for certain autopsies (Part E); intentionally omitted (Part F); relates to data on substantiated, unfounded, and unsubstantiated allegations received by the office of special investigations required to be collected and reported by the commissioner of corrections and community supervision (Part G); relates to the state commission of correction; provides for the manner of confirmation of such members; relates to the effectiveness of such provisions (Part H); authorizes the correctional association to visit correctional facilities with twenty-four hours advance notice and grants the correctional association access to certain records and information of correctional facilities (Part I); provides that with respect to state action brought by anyone to recover damages for physical, psychological, or other injury or condition suffered while in state custody, the time in which such action must commence shall be extended to two years after such person is released from such custody (Part J).

This bill (S 9064) adds intentional damage to authorized emergency vehicles (like police cars, ambulances, or fire trucks) to the list of actions that constitute "criminal mischief in the third degree" under New York law. It directly affects individuals who intentionally damage such vehicles, making this act a class E felony. The key provision amends the penal law to explicitly include emergency vehicles under the third-degree criminal mischief definition, which previously covered other property damage scenarios. This change clarifies that damaging emergency vehicles - critical for public safety - will face the same legal consequences as other significant property destruction under this specific charge.

This bill raises the minimum daily fee for temporary court interpreters from $25 to $110. It requires town and village courts to cover any compensation exceeding $110 per day for these interpreters. The bill also mandates that courts appoint certified interpreters for deaf or hard of hearing individuals in legal proceedings, with temporary appointments allowed only if certified interpreters aren't immediately available. These changes apply to all courts handling legal cases involving deaf or hard of hearing people.

Relates to coercive control; provides that the family court and the criminal courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction over acts which constitute coercive control; provides that courts may issue orders of protection upon a finding of coercive control; directs the office of court administration, in consultation with the office for the prevention of domestic violence and certain organizations, to develop and administer training for judges and court clerks on coercive control.

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.

Establishes the persistent domestic violence offender registry to provide information on the persistent domestic violence offender, including but not limited to, the name, date of birth, conviction date, county or counties of convictions, and a current photograph of any person who was convicted of an offense against a victim of domestic violence and has at least one prior conviction for a family offense committed against a member of the same family as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law; makes related provisions.

This bill amends New York's penal law to explicitly include operators and crew of passenger commuter ferries as protected individuals under assault in the second degree. It expands the existing definition to specify that intentionally causing physical injury to these ferry workers during their duties constitutes a more serious offense. The law directly affects ferry operators, crew members, and other transit workers (like train operators, bus drivers, station cleaners, and sanitation staff) who perform assigned duties on transportation systems. The key change is adding ferry personnel to the list of protected workers, making assault against them a specific criminal violation under the law.