Category Archive for : ‘STATE BY STATE NEW YORK’

Legislation that would have mandated any municipality’s social services department to report the placement of homeless sex offenders to police was vetoed by New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer late last month.  The state measure was drafted after several residents and officials complained about Suffolk County’s new program in which homeless sex offenders are placed in trailers on county property.  While it passed in both the Assembly and the Senate – with NYS Senator Ken LaValle (R-Selden) sponsoring the Senate bill – the governor vetoed the legislation on July 18,

With many legislators touting civil commitment, which takes effect statewide April 13, as a way of cubing sex crime recidivism and possibly reforming offenders, some said they mainly consider it a stopgap to protect the public until a stricter penal code is in place.  A few went further to say that the bill the Legislature passed in mid-March was designed to contain the worst of the worst offenders who are serving time but may soon have been eligible for release.  While Parents for Megan’s law executive director Laura Ahearn has

Senator Charles Schumer said yesterday, two proposals in Congress would make it harder for registered sex offenders to use the Internet for stalking children and trading child pornography.  On measure would require registered sex offenders to submit e-mail and instant-message addresses and other identifying Internet information to authorities to be placed on the National Sex Offender Registry.  The second proposal would require Internet service providers to report online child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Governor Spitzer yesterday signed into law a bill designed to make

Putnam County legislators have approved a bill to limit where convicted sex offenders can go.  The measure, passed Tuesday night, still must be signed by the county executive.  It would bar offenders from living, working or spending time within 2,500 feet of places where children congregate, including schools, bus stops, child-care facilities, nature preserves, parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities.  Also off limits would be multifamily residences and housing developments with 10 or more homes on less than a third of an acre.

Newsday/Dan Janison

A system that would keep convicted sex offenders confined after their prison term is expected torequire hundreds of state personnel and more than $80 million a year. It was not immediately clearhow the new civil confinement system will overlap or mesh with the current Level 1, Level 2, andLevel 3 sex offender categories set out under Megan’s Law. Spitzer said about 1,500 inmates wouldfit what will be called a sexually motivated felony, but that does not mean anything close to thatnumber would be confined.

HOW THE PLAN WOULD WORK

Before their

New guidelines and procedures announced by Governor Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders on Thursday for confining sex offenders who have completed prison sentences go well beyond detaining the most violent predators.  The law, which would be one of the most far-reaching of its kind in the country, would also provide mental health treatment to inmates while they are jailed or confined and impose supervision and treatment after their release.

(Albany, New York)