Crime and Punishment in New York: an Inquiry Into Sentencing and the Criminal Justice System •
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. " , Crime and Punishment in New York: An Inquiry Into Sentencing And The Criminal Justice System • /.. PORT TO GOVERNOR HUGHL.· CAREV..; PREPARED BY • fTIVE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SENTENCING \ , • CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN NEW YORK: An Inquiry Into Sentencing And The Criminal Justice System NCJRS f 1'• DEC 5 1979 ., ACQUISITIONS Report to Governor Hugh L. Carey Prepared by The Executive Advisory Committee on Sentencing March,1979 • • '.1 • March 23, 1979 To the honorable HUGH L. CAREY, Governor of the State of New York It is with great pleasure that I submit to you the final report of your Executive Advisory Committee on Sentencing, containing a summary of its activities, and its recommendations and conclusions. Respectfully submitted, Robert M. Morgenthau Chairman • • New York State Executive Advisory Committee on Sentencing Members of the Committee Robert M. Morgenthau, Chairman Jorge L. Batista John F. Keenan Peggy C. Davis Arthur L. Liman Stanley Fink John F. O'Mara I. Leo Glasser Robert P. Patterson, Jr. Emanuel R. Gold Barbara Swartz Harry D. Goldman Harold R. Tyler, Jr. Charles J. Hynes S. Burns Weston Staff General Counsel Steven E. Landers Assistant Counsel David W. Beier Marsha Garrison Associate Counsel Harvey A. Feintuch Alton J. Landsman Research Director Colleen A. Cosgrove Researchers Karen Dempsey (Part-Time) Joel Harary Gerri Jacobs Denise Mullins Nancy Sallows Eric Thompson John R. Zebrowski Office Staff Mary Grady Valeria Hollins Carol Ann Petzoldt Consultants Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. Institute for Law and Social Research (lNSLAW) Leslie T. Wilkins, Professor at the School of Criminal Justice, State '. University of New York at Albany . • • Table of Contents Page • Preface The Committee's Inquiry Executive Summary vi Introduction The Sentencing Debate 3 • Part I: HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS Chapter I An Historical Look at Sentencing in New York 7 Chapter II What Happens Before Sentencing and Why 17 Chapter III The Sentencing Process and Its Results: How Judges and the Parole Board Sentence Offenders 33 Chapter IV Imprisonment 65 Chapter V Post-Release Supervision 81 Chapter VI Probation 93 Part II: A PROPOSAL FOR SENTENCING REFORM Chapter VII The Goals of Sentencing 109 Chapter VIII Alternative Sentencing Models 125 • Chapter IX A New Sentencing System for New York 135 Supplement Supplemental Recommendations for New York's Criminal Justice System 145 • Footnotes 158 • • Preface: The Committee's Inquiry • The New York State Executive Advisory Committee on Sentencing was established by Governor Hugh L. Carey in December, 1977. Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of New York County, was appointed by the Governor to be Chairman of the Committee. The other members of the Committee were: -Jorge L. Batista, First Assistant Attorney General of the State • of New York; Regent of the State University of New York; and former President of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund. ·-Peggy C. Davis, Deputy Coordinator for Criminal Justice, City of New York; former Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers University, and Staff Counsel NAACP Legal Defense Fund. • -Slianley Fink, Speaker of the New York St8te Assembly. -I. Leo Glasser, Dean of the Brooklyn Law School; former Judge of the Family Court of New York State. -Emanuel R. Gold, Deputy Minority Leader of the New York State Senate. -Judge Harry D. Goldman, member of the law firm of Gold- • stein, Goldman, Kessler and Underberg, in Rochester; former Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, New York State Supreme Court. -Charles J. Hynes, Deputy Attorney General, Special Prose cutor for Nursing Homes, Health and Social Services; former First Assistant District Attorney, Kings County. -John F. Keenan, Deputy Attorney General, Special Prosecutor for Corruption in the New York City Criminal Justice System; former Chief Assistant District Attorney. New York County. -Arthur L. Liman, member of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; former Chief Counsel, New York State Special Commission on Attica. • -Judge John F. O'Mara, member of the law firm of Burns & O'Mara, in Elmira; former District Attorney of Chemung County and Judge of the Court of Claims of the State of New York. -Robert P. Patterson, Jr., member of the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and President of the New York State • Bar Association. -Barbara Swartz, Assistant Clinical Professor, New York Uni- versity Law School, and Director, Bedford Hills Women's Prison Project. • • ii -Judge Harold R. Tyler, Jr., member of the law firm of Patter son, Belknap, Webb & Tyler; former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and Judge of the United States District • Court, Southern District of New York. -So Burns Weston, Attorney-at-Law, Keene, New York; former President of the Bar Association of Greater Cleveland. The Committee's Mandate • In the Executive Order creating the Committee, the Governor noted that "at the center of the controversy [over sentencing] is the question whether indeterminate sentences, such as those provided for under the New York Penal Law, are preferable to a system of definite senten cing, or whether some option between the two approaches should lie with the sentencing judge." Accordingly, the Governor directed the • Committee to "evaluate the effectiveness of the existing laws relating to imprisonment, probation and parole in achieving legitimate senten cing goals," and study and evaluate alternatives for change. By the spring of 1978, the Committee had assembled a small in dependent staff and commenced its investigation. • Defining the Scope of the Inquiry An immediate and difficult problem was to define the boundaries of the Committee's study. From the outset it was clear that the inquiry must of necessity encompass more than a theoretical study of New York's sentencing laws. Events which occur both before and after sen tence is imposed are inextricably entwined with the sentencing process itself, and must be considered for a true picture of present sentencing practices to emerge. Thus, this study has attempted to describe and analyze presentencing stages of the criminal justice system, as well as the practical results of sentencing - what happens to those who are imprisoned, placed on probation, or subject to parole supervision. • The Committee made two other fundamental chokes. It decided to concentrate its efforts on felony, rather than misdemeanor, sentencing - in part because of the dearth of data relating to the sentencing of misdemeants in New York. The Committee also concluded that its inquiry would focus exclusively on the sentencing of adult, rather than juvenile, offenders, since the juvenile justice system was felt to present • unique problems which could more properly be addressed in a separate study. • • iii How the Study was Conducted • The Committee's investigation encompassed a wide variety of ac tivities. 1. Review of the literature: The Committee staff conducted an exhaustive review of the relevant literature relating to the history of sentencing in New York; alternative • sentencing models proposed or adopted in other jurisdictions; prosecutorial discretion and plea-bargaining; sentencing disparity; parole; probation; corrections; non-incarcerative community-based sanctions; and the moral and criminological implications of alter native sentencing policies. In addition, the Committee commissioned a study by the Institute for Law and Social Research (INSLA W) • relating to deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and their link to sentencing, which accompanies this report as Appendix E. 2. Interviews: The Committee and Committee staff spoke with many individuals • in New York State who are both knowledgeable and experienced in matters relating to sentencing, probation, parole, and corrections. These include members of the judiciary; officials of the New York State Office of Court Administration; high-ranking officials of the State Department of Probation and the New York City Department of Probation, and probation officers employed by several local • probation departments; top-level management of the Division of Parole, individual parole officers, the Chairman of the Board of Parole and several members of the Parole Board; the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services, aides to the Commissioner, and corrections officers; members of the Com mission of Correction; officials of the New York State Division of • Criminal Justice Services; the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department; assistant district attorneys; defense attorneys; representatives of pretrial services agencies; inmates and represen tatives of inmate organizations; academicians; criminologists; legislators; and officials of various professional associations represen ting employees in the criminal justice system. • In addition, Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. conducted lengthy interviews, on behalf of the Committee, with fifty Supreme and County Court judges, fifty assistant district attorneys, and fifty • • iv defense attorneys, selected by stratified random sampling and located across New York State. The results of this survey are contained in Ap pendix D to this report. Professor Leslie T. Wilkins, of the School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, assisted in • the development of the questionnaires used in these interviews. 3. Sentencing simulation study: In order to shed further light on the