Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, is pictured on the Assembly floor before the start of this year’s legislative session.

Bail reform is a touchy subject in the state Legislature these days, but at least one Democrat in the state Assembly wants to see those less leniency in domestic violence cases.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, has introduced legislation (A4087) that would require a police officer to arrest, rather than issue appearance tickets, in domestic violence cases involving anyone who lives in the same family or household.

“Crimes of domestic violence are uniquely dangerous,” Paulin wrote in her legislative justification. “While they are most likely to be prosecuted at the misdemeanor not felony level, they are more likely to be severely injurious and lethal than any other category of crime.”

The state’s 2019 bail reform law required judges to consider current or prior violations of an order of protection and a history of firearm possession when considering bail in domestic violence cases. Those charged in most domestic violence cases can be released on their own recognizance, have non-monetary conditions placed on their release or be monitored electronically. Cash bail or jail are not options for misdemeanor domestic violence cases.

Paulin said patterns of abuse in domestic situations tend to escalate over time.

“Despite these facts, current (New York state) law allows police officers to issue appearance ticket to an individual that commits an offense against a member of the same family or household or any family offense defined in section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law, which would allow the offender to immediately return home rather than be arrested,” Paulin wrote. “This bill would amend the criminal procedure law to state that police officers are not required to issue an appearance ticket when an arrest is made pursuant to subdivision four of section 140.10 of the CPL. This legislation will provide protection to victims of domestic violence by ensuring the offender is not able to remain in the home with the same individuals they are victimizing.”

Republican Sen. Sue Serino introduced legislation in 2022 co-sponsored by Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, that would have made each crime under the aggravated family offense statute a qualifying offense for judges to consider bail and pretrial detention. The bill never made it out of committee for a floor vote on the Senate floor.

“A study of pretrial rearrests in New York City involving domestic violence defendants found that approximately 1 in 10 such defendants were re-arrested for a new domestic violence offense during the pretrial period, and previous studies have found the number is as high as one in four defendants,” Serino wrote in her legislative justification in 2022. “It should be noted that the number of re-offenders is likely higher than the number of those re-arrested, given that many victims do not report each, if any, offense.”