According to three reports released by the New York State government this week, the rate of dismissal of domestic violence-related cases in New York City has reached as high as 94%, significantly higher than the level in 2019. The reports pointed out that the current “Discovery Law” system imposes high requirements for evidence disclosure on prosecutors, leading to situations where perpetrators exploit procedural loopholes to evade charges, thereby jeopardizing the safety of victims.
These three reports compiled feedback from over 1,400 individuals statewide, including domestic violence survivors, their families, community members, service providers, law enforcement officers, judicial staff, and local government representatives. The reports highlighted that the existing laws are overly rigid in procedural aspects, allowing offenders to manipulate the judicial process and further harm the victims.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Kelli Owens, Executive Director of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV), stated on April 14 that while the current laws aim to ensure defendants’ rights to comprehensive evidence information, in practice, a large number of cases are dismissed due to technical flaws, even if these flaws do not substantially harm the defense. The reports, based on feedback from over 1,400 relevant individuals, call for urgent legislative reforms.
Governor Hochul urged the state legislature to swiftly pass reform proposals to protect the rights of victims and strengthen the credibility of the judicial system.
The reports revealed that since New York State reformed the “Discovery Law” in 2019, the dismissal rate of domestic violence cases in New York City has risen by 26%. In 2023, 94% of domestic violence cases in the city were dismissed, with approximately half of cases in the outer regions facing a similar fate. Many cases were dismissed due to prosecutors’ failure to timely provide secondary, duplicate, or non-essential evidence, resulting in courts ruling incomplete disclosure and subsequently dismissing charges and protection orders.
Several cases were cited in the reports to illustrate the current situation. For example, a severe assault case involving a pregnant woman with a broken jaw was ultimately dismissed by the court due to a delayed submission of body camera footage by the police; in another case, the prosecution’s failure to submit a document unrelated to the core of the case led to the entire domestic violence and child welfare endangerment case being withdrawn.
Governor Hochul advocated for amendments to the automatic dismissal mechanism caused by technical flaws without changing the basic spirit of the 2019 reform. She stated that the current law requires prosecutors to submit all “potentially relevant” information within an extremely short timeframe, including irrelevant or duplicate information, which not only increases the prosecution’s workload but also exacerbates the risk of legitimate prosecutions being compromised.
Governor Hochul stated, “To have an entire criminal case dismissed due to minor clerical errors not only obstructs justice but may also lead to tragedies. I will not accept any budget agreement that does not address this legal flaw.”
According to the state government’s proposed reform suggestions, the future evidence disclosure system will be more flexible to avoid significant consequences due to trivial errors and strengthen the protection of victims’ privacy and personal safety. The proposal has garnered support from many local prosecutors and victim advocacy groups, demonstrating bipartisan consensus on this issue.