The Sex Offender Registration Act can be applied retroactively, a state appeals court has found in rejecting the argument of a convicted rapist who claimed amendments to the law since its passage in 1996 have made it a criminal punishment, rather than a civil remedy, and thus made its retroactive application unconstitutional.
The unanimous Appellate Division, First Department, panel ruled on May 30 in People v. Parilla, 1706/03, that Scott Parilla was properly found a Level III sexually violent offender under SORA for a rape he committed in 1993.
