What is Jennas Law and how does that relate to the Division of Parole?
When Governor Pataki signed into law the Sentencing Reform Act of 1998, commonly referred to as Jenna’s Law, he eliminated parole release for all violent felony offenders (VFO’s) in New York State. The Governor had previously eliminated parole release for second time VFO’s when he signed the Sentencing Reform Act of 1995. As a result of these laws, all violent felony offenders sentenced to state prison must now serve 6/7 of their court-imposed sentence before being released. There is no discretionary release for these individuals. After serving 6/7 of the sentence, the offender must then also begin serving a period of court-imposed post-release supervision of 1.5 to 5 years. While serving the period of post-release supervision, the offender is under the jurisdiction of the New York State Division of Parole and is supervised in the community by a New York State Parole Officer.
