Overview
The Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure (the “CPL Committee”) is one of the standing advisory committees established by the Chief Administrator of the Courts pursuant to section 212(1)(q) of the Judiciary Law. Its primary function is to annually recommend to the Chief Judge and the Chief Administrative Judge legislative proposals on criminal law and procedure to be included in the Judiciary’s legislative program. The CPL Committee is composed of current and retired New York State trial court judges, an appellate division justice, assistant district attorneys, institutional indigent defense providers, members of the private bar, and a law professor. Our members collectively have hundreds of years of experience working in New York’s criminal justice system and a diversity of views.
Legislative Proposals
Judicial Leadership has included five measures from the CPL Committee as a part of the UCS Legislative Program. These five proposals would
- amend the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) and the Executive Law, in relation to virtual appearances in certain criminal proceedings, to enact a new Article 182 of the CPL (UCS #24);
- amend the CPL to allow, with the consent of the district attorney and the court, pleas to be entered that are below current statutory plea reduction thresholds, and the sentencing of predicate felony offenders as first felony offenders (UCS #23);
- amend the CPL to incorporate formal procedures for search warrants seeking cell phone geolocation data and other information (UCS #20)
- amend the CPL to permit Court of Claims Judges, who are Acting Supreme Court Justices, and Supreme Court Justices outside New York City to preside over designated Youth Parts (UCS #21); and
- amend the Corrections Law and the Mental Hygiene Law in relation to ensuring proper registration and risk assessment determinations for individuals convicted of sex offenses and other sexually motivated felonies (UCS #22).