Calls to Action

The chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man, at the hands of a white New York City police officer. The fatal shooting of two NYPD officers months later. Police killings of other black suspects in Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore and South Carolina.

The violent incidents have spurred loud calls for action across the country and in New York, although state officials are still hashing out how to respond with time to pass legislation running out.

In his State of the State address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a legislative package that would provide body cameras for police, fund new bulletproof vests and patrol cars, and take steps to increase transparency and improve police-community relations. Noting that New York is one of just two states that treat all 16- and 17-year-old suspects as adults, the governor said the threshold in the majority of crimes should be raised to 18.

Cuomo also called for an independent monitor to review cases in which police kill unarmed civilians. Local district attorneys would still be able to convene a grand jury for cases in their jurisdictions, although the monitor could step in if cases are not presented to a grand jury or there is no indictment and recommend the appointment of a special prosecutor.

“Under my proposal, the district attorneys are given the benefit of the doubt and are not superseded until a reason exists that suggests bias or wrongdoing,” Cuomo said in a letter to lawmakers last month. “Thus, I would initially leave such cases to the district attorneys to present to a grand jury. However, I would also reform the grand jury system to increase transparency by mandating that in such cases there is public disclosure of the district attorneys’ instructions to the grand jury as to which charges they should consider.”

Lawmakers agreed to designate funds in this year’s budget to cover changes associated with raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18, including new diversion programs and housing of juveniles away from adult facilities. But they have yet to come to an agreement on other details and have failed so far to reach a compromise on the governor’s broader criminal justice reform package.

Assemblyman Joe Lentol, the chairman of the Codes Committee, said he was optimistic that an agreement would be reached on raising the age.

“I’m encouraged by the fact that the governor has indicated a willingness to do something on this issue,” Lentol said. “The question is always, what is the Senate going to do? They haven’t been very interested in the concept, so I don’t know if the governor can bring them on board, or if he can’t. They certainly haven’t been able to agree with us on any proposal of ‘Raise the Age.’”

Proponents of the legislation note that the status quo disproportionately impacts minorities and point to evidence indicating that the change would reduce crime and recidivism.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have focused on ensuring 16- and 17-year-olds are incarcerated in separate facilities. State Sen. Patrick Gallivan, the Republican chairman of the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, said that federal law already requires those under the age of 18 to be separated from adult prisoners, and that New York is not fully in compliance.

“So first and foremost, the most pressing need is the housing of these 16- and 17-year-olds to ensure that they are not housed with 18-year-olds and older,” Gallivan said. “I just don’t think we can make a change overnight without really looking at it, determining if a plan is warranted and planning it out over the future. Having said that, clearly there is a need to address the housing of 16- and 17-year-olds, and I think that is something we should focus on first.”

Nor have the two houses reached a deal on the governor’s special prosecutor proposal. Lawmakers from both houses have noted that the governor already has the power to appoint a special prosecutor; Cuomo could have taken that step after Staten Island’s district attorney failed to indict an NYPD officer in the Eric Garner case, but chose not to.

Lentol said he supports the creation of an independent monitor to review cases and decide which ones to refer to a special prosecutor, but that the monitor would need to have more access to the details of a case than originally proposed.

“From the way it’s drafted, it really doesn’t give that person very much power to do anything,” Lentol said. “For example, it doesn’t talk about whether he has access to the grand jury minutes or whether or not he can independently question witnesses. If a special prosecutor were appointed, they would have all of that power, but an independent monitor won’t. So it would be hard for the independent monitor to make a decision as to how to advise the governor if he doesn’t have all the facts in the case.”

But Gallivan said he was concerned that police officers already face significant scrutiny with the grand jury process and, at times, reviews by the U.S. Justice Department.

“I don’t know that I’m completely comfortable creating another level of review and treating police differently than every other person,” he said. “My concern when we’re talking about changing a system, when we single out the instances of where police use force that results in the death of an unarmed civilian, it’s a very narrow perspective, and now we’re treating a group of people, in this case the police, as different than every other citizen,” Gallivan said. “The idea is that everybody’s required to follow the law, including the police.”

What Got Done

• Funding the budget expenses tied to Raise the Age

What's on the Docket

• Implementation of Raise the Age
• Creating an independent monitor to appoint a special prosecutor when police kill unarmed civilians
• Grand jury transparency