Rockland ruling on sex offenders could affect LI

By ERIK GERMAN
January 27, 2009

A judge's decision overturning a Rockland County law restricting where sex offenders live could affect dozens of similar laws statewide - including many on Long Island, where municipalities have rushed to enact tough residency legislation over the last few years.

In a decision Friday, State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly said local residency rules are superseded by New York State law, which specifically empowers local probation officers to decide where to place sex offenders in communities.

"'Not in my backyard' residency restrictions are spreading unchecked through county, town and village ordinance books from Suffolk County to Niagara Falls," Kelly wrote.

While the Rockland court holds no sway over other counties, legal experts said the ruling's impact could spread if the matter is upheld in higher court, or if judges in other jurisdictions adopt Kelly's reasoning.

"It would be a highly persuasive precedent," said Hofstra University law professor Julian Ku. "Attorneys for Nassau and Suffolk County should probably be reviewing this decision."

The lawyer who argued the Rockland case, David Goldstein of Chestnut Ridge, said he has already received calls from lawyers across the state looking to repeat his success. "This is the first time in this state these laws have been challenged on this argument and we prevailed on our first try," Goldstein said.

County attorneys for Nassau and Suffolk said they are reviewing the Rockland decision, but said Long Island's residency laws will continue to be enforced as written.

"Suffolk strongly disagrees with the judge's claim that the state has pre-empted local jurisdictions from acting in the manner they have," Suffolk County Attorney Christine Malafi said.

Local ordinances inadvertently increase the chances of relapses, Kelly wrote, "by either banishing offenders from entire communities or confining them to areas without adequate housing or transportation."

Rockland's residency law was similar to those in Nassau and Suffolk, which prohibit registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks. The buffer in Nassau is 1,000 feet from a school - the same as Rockland - and 500 feet from a park; in Suffolk the distance is a quarter-mile, about 1,300 feet for both schools and parks.

The state Division of Criminal Justice Services commissioner, Denise O'Donnell, had no official position on the Rockland ruling, spokesman John Caher said.

O'Donnell does have "reservations" about the 98 residency restriction laws in effect statewide because, Caher said, "she's not convinced they're always effective and they can force offenders underground."

Advocates for cracking down on sex offenders, such as Laura Ahern of Parents for Megan's Law, say they have no such reservations.

"Residency restriction laws are not designed to 'banish' registered sex offenders from communities, but to protect vulnerable populations from victimization," Ahern said. "The state mandates lifetime registration, but the financial burden of lifetime supervision often falls upon the community and local governments."

By ERIK GERMAN
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2009

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