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Monday, December 27, 2010

Law - How is the NY civil committment of sex offenders after prison program working out?

This March 4, 2007 ILB entry began:

"Doubts Rise as States Detain Sex Offenders After Prison" is the headline to the NY Times front-page story today, the first of a three-part series titled "Locked Away." Today's story begins:
The decision by New York to confine sex offenders beyond their prison terms places the state at the forefront of a growing national movement that is popular with politicians and voters. But such programs have almost never met a stated purpose of treating the worst criminals until they no longer pose a threat.
"Can sex offenders be held after serving criminal sentences?" was the heading to this Jan. 13, 2010 ILB entry.

Now the Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle is running a series on how its civil commitment of sex offenders program is working out for them. From the sidebar today:

About this series

Sunday: State’s civil commitment program facing space and budgetary constraints.
Today: The legal terrain.
Tuesday: The parole program.
Wednesday: The treatment, and the cost of expert advice.

About civil commitment

New York’s civil commitment of sex offenders is a civil — not criminal — process. This means attorneys for the accused can ask that files be sealed and courtrooms closed for confidentiality reasons, just as happens in numerous civil cases in which the mental stability of an individual is at question.

For this investigation, the Democrat and Chronicle secured hundreds of pages of civil commitment court documents before they were sealed, and also filed Freedom of Information requests with state agencies to obtain other reports from unresolved cases. The newspaper has reviewed nearly four dozen civil commitment cases.

Also, the Democrat and Chronicle has conducted multiple interviews with experts and officials and used reports and records from agencies across the country and New York, including the state’s Office of Mental Health, Attorney General’s Office, Office of Court Administration, Mental Hygiene Legal Services, the Division of Parole, and the Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Findings

-- A number of the earliest confined offenders consented to commitment, raising questions about their legal representation.
-- A dearth of state Court of Appeals rulings makes the legal terrain for civil commitment murky.
-- A Court of Appeals ruling about rapist Mustafa Rashid will make confinement for offenders unlikely in similar cases.

Files Downloads - a number of reports are available.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 27, 2010 09:52 AM
Posted to General Law Related