Governor Pataki went to war with Assemblyman Sheldon Silver yesterday after lawmakers failed to pass a proposal by the governor to keep the state’s most dangerous sex offenders locked up in psychiatric centers after their release from prison. If a recently freed rapist strikes again, Pataki wants to make one thing clear: It’s going to be Sheldon Silver’s fault.
(Albany, New York)
In 1994, Congress approved the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. It requires all fifty states to create a registry of offenders convicted of crimes against children or sexually violent offenses. On October 22, 1989, 11 year old Jacob Wetterling was abducted by a man with a gun. Jacob, his brother and a friend were riding their bicycles home from a convenience store where they had rented a movie. A man carrying a mask stepped out of a driveway and told his brother and friend
Jenna’s Law, named for 22 year old Jenna Greishaber of New York, ended parole for all violent felons. It requires all violent felons to serve at least six-sevenths of their prison sentences. It mandates sentences with set lengths. It also subjects violent felons to post-release supervision of anywhere from 3-5 years or life for sex offenders. Jenna was a nursing student who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in her Albany apartment. Her killer, was a repeat, violent felon who recently had been paroled for the third time.
The Jimmy Ryce Act, named for 9 year old Jimmy Ryce who was kidnapped at gunpoint, raped and murdered on September 11, 1995, was passed in 1996 in Florida. It allows neighborhoods to be notified where sexual predators live. Florida passed the Jimmy Ryce Act of 1998, providing for the involuntary civil commitment of certain violent sexual predators. The bill empowers local law enforcement to call in the FBI immediately when a child may have been criminally abducted and makes it a crime to try to seduce a child using
Joan’s Law, named for 7 year old Joan D’Alessandro of New Jersey, imposes a life-without-parole sentence for the murder of a child under 14 during a sexual assault. Joan was raped, stabbed to death and left in a wooden hollow by her neighbor, Joseph McGowan, 27 years ago. He received a life sentence but became eligible for parole in 1987 and again in 1993, when the parole board denied release and ruled he would not be eligible again until 2005. Joan’s mother has mounted successful campaigns to keep her daughters
On May 23, 1994, 4 year old Kali Poulton was abducted and murdered by a stranger living near her home. Mark John Christie was sentenced on November 30, 1997, to 25 years to life with a recommendation of no parole. The last words the judge said were, Lock him up. The Senate passed legislation sponsored by Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) that requires notification to victims, law enforcement officials and the general public when a violent felon or a sexual predator seeks to change his identity. The measure was prompted