Statement by Corporation Counsel Zachary W. Carter to the City Council In Connection with the Executive Budget for FY 2019
May 17, 2018
Good afternoon, Chair Dromm, Chair Cabrera and distinguished Members of the Finance and Government Operations Committees. I am pleased to appear before you to discuss the Law Department’s fiscal year 2019 Executive Budget.
The Law Department consists of sixteen legal and three support divisions. We handle an extraordinary array of cases and non-litigation matters: from tort to tax, from environmental and administrative issues to economic development and municipal financing. We also represent the City as plaintiff in a wide variety of affirmative matters.
The Executive Budget contains funds to support implementation of Phase 1 of New York State’s Raise the Age Legislation in New York City. The law increases the age of criminal responsibility in New York State to 16 years old as of October 1, 2018 and to 17 years old on October 1, 2019.
The Family Court system is focused on rehabilitation. The Law Department, through its Family Court Division, seeks to ensure that those youth who commit delinquent acts are held accountable for their misconduct and receive appropriate services. In making adjudication recommendations to the Family Court, the Law Department seeks to balance the need for protection of the community with the needs and the best interests of the youth. The Department is working intensely to prepare for both the legal and logistical changes to the juvenile delinquency practice in New York City Family Courts as well as an expected increase in case volumes. It is important that during this implementation, our Family Court Division remains focused on our current youth population as well as ensuring that older youth receive rehabilitative services in a manner consistent with community safety.
In light of the anticipated volume, our Family Court Division is restructuring to develop an expanded and stronger central management team, and has created new supervisory positions in specialized areas of the practice, including the Major Case Unit, which handles our most serious and violent cases, and the Special Victims Unit, which handles sex offenses. In addition to internal preparations, the Family Court Division has been actively participating in both city-wide and borough based working groups and task forces focusing on various implementation issues including court processes, data analytics and risk assessment, programming and diversion, and facilities. Our Family Court Administration team has been collaborating with the five District Attorneys’ offices to ensure smooth transfer and removal of adolescent offender cases to the Family Court. Our Director of Raise the Age Strategy and Planning recently conducted training alongside the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office at the New York Prosecutors Training Institute Metro Conference for approximately 200 local ADAs and prosecutors, and we are planning joint trainings with the District Attorneys’ offices in all counties for this fall.
The Executive Budget also contains funds for particular case related needs, which are largely electronic discovery and expert services. Further, the budget for the 2018 Charter Revision Commission resides within the Law Department’s budget.
Conclusion
I thank you for your support of the Law Department and look forward to our continued work together. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
CONTACT: Nick Paolucci / 212-356-4000 / pressoffice@law.nyc.gov