Senator Johnson calls on Assembly to pass Civil Confinement law

Dear Editor:

Your editorial "New York Needs a Civil Confinement Law Now," (December 14, 2006), couldn't have been more timely. I just returned from an Extraordinary Session of the Legislature that was called by Governor George Pataki for the sole purpose of acting on civil confinement legislation. While my Senate colleagues and I passed the legislation that was sent to us by the Governor, the Assembly refused to act. The sad result is that New York remains without the civil confinement law needed to protect residents from dangerous sexual predators.

For several years, the Senate has passed legislation that I cosponsored to allow confinement of sexually violent predators who suffer from mental abnormalities and pose a grave risk to society because of their extreme likelihood to reoffend. Such laws are not unprecedented. In fact, 16 other states have authorized civil commitment laws for sexually violent predators when their criminal sentences expire. New York needs to do the same.

The Extraordinary Session called by the Governor offered the Legislature a unique opportunity to come together and right the wrong of leaving the issue of civil confinement unresolved last session. I think it is shameful that this opportunity was not seized.

While Governor Pataki has done everything in his power to protect the public by issuing an Executive Order earlier this year to confine some of the most dangerous sexual predators at the conclusion of their sentences, the Court of Appeals later ruled that he did not have the legal authority to do so. Had the Assembly joined the Senate in passing this important legislation, we would not be in this predicament.

I agree with your paper's view that elected officials must work together in a bipartisan way to protect those they represent. I hope and pray that we can reach agreement early in the 2007 session on a civil confinement law that will give New Yorkers the protection they need and deserve.

Owen H. Johnson Member of the Senate

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