Brooklyn Defenders’ Statement on Proposed Legislation to Improve Efficiency in New York’s Discovery System

Bill Introduced in New York State Legislature Would Require Police Departments to Provide District Attorneys with Access to their Electronic Records for Discovery Purposes

(BROOKLYN, NY) – Brooklyn Defenders issued the following statement in response to the introduction of bill that would provide district attorney’s offices access to the electronic record systems of police departments to improve efficiency of the discovery process:

“Legislation introduced today by Assemblymember Lasher and Senator Myrie offers a common sense solution to fulfill the promise of a fairer and more transparent discovery system and strengthen compliance with existing law.

For decades, New York’s discovery statute allowed police and prosecutors to withhold evidence from people accused of crimes and their attorneys until the eve of trial, denying people access to critical information and keeping them and their attorneys in the dark, unable to investigate, prepare a defense, or make informed decisions about their case.

In 2019, New York addressed this injustice by enacting a fair and modern discovery statute, which ensures people have timely and meaningful access to evidence and combats the state’s high rate of wrongful convictions, coerced pleas, and unnecessary pre-trial delays.

However, the implementation of this law has been hampered by the lack of common technological systems between police and prosecutors, creating delays and sometimes resulting in missing information.

This proposed legislative fix would allow prosecutors to immediately access police data, documents and recordings and timely review the evidence. Not only will this help implement the discovery laws as they are written, it will encourage earlier resolution of cases. We urge the legislature to pass this bill in the coming session.”

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Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defense office whose mission is to provide outstanding representation and advocacy free of cost to people facing loss of freedom, family separation and other serious legal harms by the government. www.bds.org

Read full press release here.