BILL NUMBER: S5290
SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to requiring that a defendant
must be over twenty-five years old to be guilty of felony murder
 
PURPOSE::
This bill will raise the age for a felony murder defendant to be over
twenty-five years of age.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section 1 amends Penal Law 125.25 (3).
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION::
It has been established that the brain of a young individual does not
fully develop until they are in their late twenties. As a consequence of
their developmental stage, they do not engage in the same kind of risk
benefit analysis as older individuals. They do not have as much life
experience as an older person and are more prone to social pressure from
their peers. As a result of this, they tend to take part in risky behav-
ior and be less deterred than an adult by the thought of possible conse-
quences that seem remote to them. In spite of their biological immaturi-
ty, our laws treat them as adults. The felony murder rule establishes
criminal liability for all codefendants when a person is murdered during
the commission of certain felonies. In some cases, the co-defendant who
actually committed the murder may cooperate with the police so the other
co-defendant that did not commit the murder ends up with a longer
sentence than the person who actually committed the murder. People who
did not commit murder, did not intend to commit murder and did not
conspire to commit murder end up with life sentences for murder and can
spend decades behind bars.
While young people can and should be held responsible for their own
acts, it is unjust to hold them responsible for the acts of other people
that they did not contemplate. A young individual that goes along with a
crowd to commit a crime should be responsible for the crime they commit
but not for the crime they didn't commit and were too immature to
reasonably foresee.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
S.4346 of 2023-2024; Referred to Codes;
S. 5353 of 2021-22: New bill, Referred to Codes
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS::
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.