It has been more than two years since the New York Legislature enacted the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), authorizing alternative sentences for people charged with a criminal offense who were victims of domestic violence and for whom the abuse was a "significant contributing factor" to their "criminal behavior" (Penal Law §60.12) and resentencing relief (CPL §440.47).

An April 15, 2020 NYLJ article, DVSJA Sentencing: A New Challenge for Judges, reviewed the judicial knowledge and analysis that must be brought to bear in the course of this new sentencing determination. This article reviews the challenge of DVSJA sentencing and then takes a look at how this challenge was met in a recent DVSJA sentencing by Supreme Court Justice Robert Mandelbaum in the case of People v. M.M.

Sentencing Prior to the DVSJA

Even prior to the DVSJA, there was general agreement that sentencing is the most difficult and delicate decision that a judge is called upon to perform. In a Dec. 14, 2018 NYLJ article, Joel Cohen suggested that "[v]irtually every judge would agree that sentencing is the most solemn and difficult decision they must make."