New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio today announced that the State Senate has taken significant and important action in adopting a tougher stance against violent crime by enacting the “Domestic Violence Prevention Act-Brittany’s Law.” This legislation, Senate Bill 513, sponsored by Nozzolio, will create a publically accessible registry of convicted violent felons. Full Article
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Housing the unwanted
Under state law, ____, as a paroled sex offender, cannot live within 1,000 feet of schools—making large swaths of Brooklyn off-limits. Parole conditions also prohibit him from fraternizing with other ex-convicts and limit contact to family and friends screened by parole officials. So when he was finally released from an upstate prison in January, ____ was confused to find himself living with dozens of sex offenders and other parolees in an illegal rooming house in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Full Article
Read MoreNY: ‘Brittany’s Law,’ bill to establish statewide violent offender registry
Legislation that would create a statewide violent felony offender registry has been included in the New York State Senate’s one-house budget, state Sen. Michael Nozzolio said Wednesday. “New York state currently requires all convicted sex offenders to register with the state and it keeps track of those individuals,” he said. “It makes no sense that we do not do the same for those who commit violent felony crimes against our citizens. We cannot continue to put innocent New Yorkers at risk.” Full Article
Read MoreNY: Drawing the line on sex offenders
___ ___, Douangtavilay, a Level 3 sex offender, once lived 200 feet from athletic fields used by Penfield youth. The discovery of this fact has prompted Penfield officials to propose residency restrictions on sex offenders, potentially putting Penfield in conflict with state law. New York’s courts assign sex offenders a Level 1, 2, or 3 designation, based on the risk that they’ll re-offend. Level 1 means a low risk, Level 2 is moderate, and Level 3 is high. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Senate passes Sex Offender Legislation
Albany, N.Y. – The New York State Senate passed a bill Thursday granting municipalities the authority to establish residency restrictions for registered sex offenders. Sen. Rich Funke (R-NY 55th District) first announced the bill Monday alongside Penfield Supervisor Tony LaFountain. Penfield is working on a child safety act that would prevent level two and three sex offenders from living in designated child-safe zones, which would be 2,000 feet away from any schools, parks, playgrounds, town facilities or daycare centers. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Ruling stirs debate on limiting where sex offenders live
MINEOLA, N.Y. — A decision by New York’s highest court striking down dozens of local laws that set boundaries on where convicted sex offenders may live has rekindled a debate over whether such laws really work to protect children. New York’s Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last week that only the state has the power to tell offenders where they can and cannot reside, and generally only while they are on parole or supervised release. The ruling effectively struck down more than 130 local laws across the state, many of…
Read MoreNY: High Court right to overturn local sex offender laws (Editorial)
Local and county politicians around the state hopped on a populist bandwagon nearly a decade ago, hurriedly passing laws that outdid the state’s effort to keep convicted sex offenders from living or even walking near schools, parks and daycare centers — in the absence of any real evidence that stricter laws were needed. Full Editorial
Read MoreNY: Court of Appeals voids sex offender laws
ALBANY — The state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that state law restricting the residency of registered sex offenders supersedes local and county laws, rendering them obsolete. The 5-0 decision by the Court of Appeals marked defeat for Nassau County and any other municipality in New York state hoping to restrict the offenders to within certain distances of schools, parks, playgrounds, daycare centers and other places where children are likely to be. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Senate approves tougher penalties, requirements for sex offenders
The New York State Senate passed a package of seven bills Monday aimed at increasing penalties and establishing tougher requirements for sex offenders. Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Klein, co-leader of the state Senate Majority Coalition and leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, would ban level 2 and level 3 sex offenders from being placed in homeless shelters or emergency and temporary housing if children are currently living in the facilities. The state Senate also passed measures to establish a crime if an individual knowingly harbors, houses or employs…
Read MoreNY: Where should sex offenders live?
Albany – A local attorney told the state’s top court Monday that a county law restricting the residency of convicted sex offenders within 1,000 feet of schools should be superseded by state law and not be enforced. Full Article
Read MoreNY: NY may need to free sex offenders
State mental health officials are trying to decide whether they will have to release civilly confined sex offenders because of a recent ruling from New York’s highest court. The odds are some of the offenders will be freed. The more pressing question may be: How many? Full Article
Read MoreNY: Parents for Megan’s Law touts record on sex offenders as it seeks to expand into Nassau
Parents for Megan’s Law, a nonprofit that monitors convicted sex offenders in Suffolk County, has alerted police to 173 cases in which offenders allegedly reported inaccurate addresses, contributing to 38 arrests, according to the agency and new county data. Full Article
Read MoreTier 2 Sex Offender Coming To Buffalo
____ ____ ____ was convicted of engaging in a sexual act with another by force and the threat of serious violence in 1992. ____ was convicted of forcibly raping an eighteen year old girl. ____ was 25 and physically intimidating and mentally unhinged due to drug and alcohol addiction at the time of this vicious act. Now the Statler City Hotel, Lace-Up Promotions and the City of Buffalo are being used to promote this individual. The reputation of all are being used in a manner that causes new injuries to the…
Read MoreNY: Nonprofit To Expand Nassau County Sex Offender Program
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Starting next year, the Long Island-based group Parents for Megan’s Law will begin monitoring the online activities of Nassau County’s registered sex offenders. The monitoring will include tracking posts on Facebook and Twitter and forwarding leads to police, Newsday reported. Full Article
Read MoreNY: West Seneca Neighbors Dismayed Albany Judge Will Hear Sex Offender Group Home Case
WEST SENECA, N.Y. — The battle to move sex offenders out of a group home in West Seneca will continue in Albany. On Tuesday, the judge moved the case on the state’s policy on sex offenders and housing from Erie County Court to Albany County.Since February, residents have repeatedly expressed outrage that seven registered sex offenders are living in a group home on Leydecker Road in West Seneca. They say the state moved the men to their neighborhood without notifying them. “You’re putting the fox in the hen house,” said…
Read MoreNY: Judge rules on difficulty for sex offenders to live in Brooklyn
Forcing sex offenders to stay 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds and daycare centers if they were convicted before that state law was enacted is unconstitutional, a new Brooklyn Supreme Court ruling has found. Full Article Also see: Devine v Annucci (decision)
Read MoreAnti-Airbnb Coalition Creates Map to Find Nearby Sex Offenders in NYC
ShareBetter, the anti-Airbnb campaign in New York City, launched a tool Monday that allows short-term renters to search neighborhoods in the city for sex offenders and building code violations. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Judge Finds State Limits on Sex Offender Moves Illegal
A judge has found the state’s 2005 restrictions on sex offender movement violate constitutional bans on retroactive punishment when applied to a man convicted of sexual abuse in 2002 and effectively banished him from many parts of Brooklyn as a result. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Lewis determined that Executive Law §259-c(14)—which forbids sentenced offenders from “knowingly entering into” publicly accessible areas within 1,000 feet of school grounds and other institutions where minors are present—violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution in the case of ____ ____, convicted…
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