Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA) - Enforcement of criminal and civil offenses.

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the enforcement of criminal and civil offenses

In enforcing misdemeanors and non-criminal offenses, the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) may either issue a criminal or civil summons, among other options. This bill states the Council has determined that criminal summonses should only be used for certain low-level offenses in limited circumstances, and requires the NYPD to provide guidance to its officers on when to use criminal and civil summonses, and make such guidance public. The bill also adds definitions for terms such as “civil summons” to create uniformity in the use of these terms throughout the Administrative Code.