New York Allows Worst Sex Offenders to be Held Beyond Prison Terms

Newly elected Governor Eliot Spitzer worked with Lawmakers in the NY Senate and Assembly to pass a "Civil Confinement" bill that could keep New York's most dangerous sex offnders locked up after their prison terms expire, allowing them to be held in Psychiatric facilities until they are considered "no longer a danger to society."

Under the new law, mental health professionals will decide whether a given sex offender poses a real danger of commiting more sex offenses.

The Bill would creat an Office of Sex Offender Management and Spitzer claims that as many as 1,500 inmates in State prison could be subject to "Civil Confinement," but asserts that only a few hundred are likely to be institutionalized beyond their prison sentences.

Spitzer lauded the Bill saying, "We in government have a responsibility to do everything we can to protect the public. This is especially true when it comes to protecting the public from those individuals whose mental abnormalities cause them to make sexual attacks on others."

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rennselaer) says of the Bill, "We're going to try and pass it as fast as we can."

Workingclass Conservative says, "Long overdue."