Speaker's Delay Places New Yorkers in Danger

Ft. Hamilton Station, NY – “On January 17, the New York State Senate passed legislation that provides for the civil commitment of sexually violent predators and each day that Speaker Sheldon Silver delays action on this bill places New York residents in danger”, said Michael R. Long, Conservative Party Chairman. “Government’s primary role is to protect its citizens and this bill, once signed into law, will make it possible for New York to join 16 other states that commit sexually violent predators to a civil confinement once their jail time ends”, Long stated.

The Conservative Party issued the following memo urging Speaker Silver to pass the bill immediately.

New York’s population must be protected from sexually violent predators and the only way to be certain that the residents of this state are protected is to keep sexually violent predators off the streets.

We applaud the legislators on their agreement to expand Megan’s Law, another necessary tool to keep New Yorkers safe. But some people cannot be rehabilitated and these are the ones that must be kept in civil confinement.

A sexually violent predator is defined as a person who has committed a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a “mental abnormality”. The Bill defines “mental abnormality” as a congenital or acquired condition, disease, or disorder that affects the emotional or volitional capacity of a person in a manner that predisposes him or her to commit sexually violent acts and that results in serious difficulty in controlling behavior to a degree that the person is a menace to the health and safety of others.

New Yorkers expect government to keep them reasonably safe, in fact the major role of government is to keep its citizens safe and every day delay in passing this legislation is a day that government has shirked its responsibility.

Speaker Silver you have a moral obligation to pass this legislation immediately.

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