New York Laws
Article 10 - Sex Offenders Requiring Civil Commitment or Supervision
10.05 - Notice and Case Review.

(a) The commissioner of mental health, in consultation with the
commissioner of the department of corrections and community supervision
and the commissioner of developmental disabilities, shall establish a
case review panel consisting of at least fifteen members, any three of
whom may sit as a team to review a particular case. At least two members
of each team shall be professionals in the field of mental health or the
field of developmental disabilities, as appropriate, with experience in
the treatment, diagnosis, risk assessment or management of sex
offenders. To the extent practicable, the workload of the case review
panel should be evenly distributed among its members. Members of the
case review panel and psychiatric examiners should be free to exercise
independent professional judgment without pressure or retaliation for
the exercise of that judgment from any source.
(b) When it appears to an agency with jurisdiction that a person who
may be a detained sex offender is nearing an anticipated release from
confinement, the agency shall give notice of that fact to the attorney
general and to the commissioner of mental health. When it appears to the
department of corrections and community supervision that a person who
may be a detained sex offender is nearing an anticipated release from
community supervision, the agency may give such notice. The agency with
jurisdiction shall seek to give such notice at least one hundred twenty
days prior to the person's anticipated release, but failure to give
notice within such time period shall not affect the validity of such
notice or any subsequent action, including the filing of a sex offender
civil management petition.
(c) The notice to the attorney general and the commissioner of mental
health shall, to the extent possible, contain the following:
(1) The person's name, aliases, and other identifying information such
as date of birth, sex, physical characteristics, and anticipated future
residence;
(2) A photograph and a set of fingerprints;
(3) A description of the act or acts that constitute the sex offense
and a description of the person's criminal history, including the
person's most recent sentence and any supervisory terms that it
includes;
(4) The presentence reports prepared pursuant to article three hundred
ninety of the criminal procedure law and other available materials
concerning the person's sex offense; and
(5) A description of the person's institutional history, including his
or her participation in any sex offender treatment program; and
(6) Records of parole release interviews prepared pursuant to
subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision six of section two
hundred fifty-nine-i of the executive law.
(d) The commissioner shall be authorized to designate
multidisciplinary staff, including clinical and other professional
personnel, to provide a preliminary review of the need for detained sex
offenders to be evaluated under the procedures of this section. When the
commissioner receives notice pursuant to subdivision (b) of this
section, such staff shall review and assess relevant medical, clinical,
criminal, and institutional records, actuarial risk assessment
instruments and other records and reports, including records of parole
release interviews where applicable, and records and reports provided by
the district attorney of the county where the person was convicted, or
in the case of persons determined to be incapacitated or not responsible
by reason of mental disease or defect, the county where the person was
charged. Upon such review and assessment, the staff shall determine

whether the person who is the subject of the notice should be referred
to a case review team for evaluation.
(e) If the person is referred to a case review team for evaluation,
notice of such referral shall be provided to the respondent. Upon such
referral, the case review team shall review relevant records, including
those described in subdivisions (c) and (d) of this section, and may
arrange for a psychiatric examination of the respondent. Based on the
review and assessment of such information, the case review team shall
consider whether the respondent is a sex offender requiring civil
management.
(f) If the case review team determines that the respondent is not a
sex offender requiring civil management, it shall so notify the
respondent and the attorney general, and the attorney general shall not
file a sex offender civil management petition.
(g) If the case review team finds that the respondent is a sex
offender requiring civil management, it shall so notify the respondent
and the attorney general, in writing. The written notice must be
accompanied by a written report from a psychiatric examiner that
includes a finding as to whether the respondent has a mental
abnormality. Where the notice indicates that a respondent stands
convicted of or was charged with a designated felony, it shall also
include the case review team's finding as to whether the act was
sexually motivated. The case review team shall provide its written
notice to the attorney general and the respondent within forty-five days
of the commissioner receiving the notice of anticipated release.
However, failure to do so within that time period shall not affect the
validity of such notice or finding or any subsequent action, including
the attorney general's filing of a sex offender civil management
petition subsequent to receiving the finding of the case review team.