N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 10.05: Notice and case review

§ 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.