BILL NUMBER: S6642
SPONSOR: SANDERS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act establishing the New York state commission to end mass incarcera-
tion and to prevent violence
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would establish the new York state commission to end mass
incarceration and to prevent violence.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section One: Legislative Intent.
Section 2: Establish the temporary new York state commission to end mass
incarceration and to prevent violence.
Section 3: Commission composition. 17 members.
Section 4: Topics of investigation on how to end mass incarceration and
prevent violent crime.
Section 5: The commission may hold public hearings and to undertake
studies, inquiries, surveys or analyses it may deem relevant.
Section 6: Make recommendations and issue a report of its findings.
Section 7: Effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The United States has the largest prison population in the world as well
as the highest per-capita incarceration rate. In the United States, the
crime rate is not much higher compared to that in Western Europe. Howev-
er, the incarceration rate is three or four times higher even though the
crime rate is lower than at any time since the mid-1960s and the United
States has incarcerated seven times as many people since that time while
making up about five percent of the world's population, and has nearly
twenty-one percent of the world's prisoners. African Americans are
incarcerated at more than five times the rate of whites. The imprison-
ment rate of African Americans for drug charges is almost six times that
of whites even while African Americans and whites use drugs at similar
rates and if African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the
same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would be reduced by
almost forty percent. This bill would establish a commission to study on
what can be done to reduce the incarceration rate in new York state
prisons and to reduce violent crime in the interest of justice and
public safety.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.