Why It’s Important to Know the Law

Since the founding of New York as one of the first states in the United States of America, the state and federal government in effect in the colonies has created many laws and policies that would later inspire and set in motion the founding of the modern United States laws. Some of these policies which were forgotten and then eventually resurfaced later when they become relevant to an issue.

A recent example of this kind of situation would be the obscure law in New York known as “civil confinement” which in effect, creates a lifetime prison sentence for people charged with multiple counts of sex crimes. These people are considered unable to be rehabilitated. They are then held at this facility for life and unlikely to ever be released back into the public.

There are currently two facilities for this purpose in New York. One is the Central New York Psychiatric Facility in Marcy, and the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg. This system only houses 1% of New York’s 37,000 sex offenders and contains 286 men and 0 women as of 2013. The program cost approx. $56 million which goes for around $200,000 per prisoner per year.

The motivation behind this program is to keep potentially dangerous and law-breaking offenders away from the public. Cases like these often involve those who are serial offenders who kill their victims, or individuals who have repeatedly been charged with molestation and are considered unlikely to be able to be rehabilitated.

In the facilities the inmates are closely monitored at all times and are often tested psychologically in order for the doctors and therapists to ascertain their mental state. These tests include observing the inmates reactions to potentially arousing and/or sexual situations using graphic images. However regardless of any improvement the prisoners may have during their time in these facilities , they are unlikely to ever be released or even put on parole.

The importance of cases like civil confinement is that New York has many laws and regulations that people in a place like Weedsport may not even be aware of. This is a more pressing issue if the obscure regulation in question has a drastic effect on their lives. It is important to know the law, as well as to be able to distinguish whether or not it will have an impact on their actions and if the law is still in effect, should it be an older regulation.

I have spoken with students around the Weedsport School District and informed them about the issue of civil confinement. They all seemed to prefer knowing about the different laws that aren’t as well known. One in particular spoke saying “I wish people were more informed about regulations in New York State, and that this applies to anything, not just laws.” They then mentioned how many accidental breaking of laws could be prevented if they laws were more easily accessible and broadcasted.

All in all, be it zoning laws, hunting regulations or more serious penalties such as assault or theft, knowing the laws can be important to any public situation and can be a deciding factor in any legal issue.