UNDERSTANDING THE NEW 'SON OF
SAM'LAW
Prepared by Prisoners' Legal Services of N ew York

In the summer of 2001, the N ew York State Legislature significantly broadened the
so-called "Son of Sam" law.
Previously, the law required that victims of crimes be notified whenever a person
convicted of a crime received "profits of the crime." "Profits of the crime" referred
to money an inmate might receive as a result of having committed the crime for
which he or she was convicted. It was intended to prevent inmates from "profiting" through book or movie deals or in similar ways - from their crimes,and to make it
easier for persons who had been the victims of those crimes to sue the convicted
person if they received "profits" from the crime.
The new law greatly expands the 'Son of Sam' law. The new law attempts to notify
crime victims be notified a'!Y time an inmate, convicted of one of numerous
"specified crimes." receives $10,000.00 or more - from virtually a'!Y source. The law
then gives crime victims an extended period of time during which they may sue the
person who committed the crime of which they were the victim. It also authorizes the
a State Agency, the Crime Victims' Board, to act in the victim's behalf in some
circumstances.
This new, expanded 'Son of Sam' law may have a major impact on you if you stand to
receive a significant amount of money from any source - whether through
inheritance, investment, or as the result of a settlement or an award in litigationwhile still under a criminal sentence - and even, in some cases, after your sentence is
completed. This memo is intended to answer basic questions about how the new law
works and how it may affect you. This is a complicated new law, however, with many
details. This memo is only intended to provide an overview. If, after reading this
.memo, you have more specific questions about how and whether the law will apply to
you, please write to Prisoners' Legal Services, Central Intake, 118 Prospect St., Suite
307, Ithaca, NY 14850.

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1.

HOW DOES THE NEW LAW WORK?

Basically, the new law requires that any money received by an inmate over a certain
amount be reported to the N ew York State Crime Victims' Board. The Crime
Victims' Board, in tum, is required to attempt to notify any victims of the crime for
which the inmate in question was convicted that the inmate has money. The law then
gives victims additional time, over and above the usual statute of limitations, in which
he or she may file a civil suit against the inmate to recover damages for any injury
suffered as a result of the crime. inmates convicted of certain specified crimes.
Under the original 'Son of Sam' law any person or entity contracting to pay a
convicted person the "profits of a crime" was required to notify the Crime Victims'
Board. The Crime Victims' Board, in turn, was to notify any victims of the crime that
the convicted person had received "profits" of the crime, so that the victim would be
able to sue the convicted person.
"Profits of a crime", however, was defined narrowly. It meant "any property which
the defendant obtained or income generated as a result of having committed the crime,
including any assets obtained through the use of unique knowledge obtained during
the commission of, or in preparation for the commission of, the crime." See,
Executive Law § 632-a.. The law was thus limited to income you might receive
specifically as a result of having committed a crime.
The new law, however, adds an entirely new category of income, called "Funds of a
Convicted Person" which must now also be reported to the Crime Victims' Bureau.
"Funds of a Convicted Person" is defined very broadly. It means "all funds and
property received from any source" by a person convicted of certain specified crimes
"excluding child support and earned income."

2.

TO WHAT CRIMES DOES THE NEW LAW APPLY?

The crimes to which the new law applies include all violent felony offenses (as defined
in section 70.02 of the Penal Law); all first degree felonies; all "B" felonies; and all
offenses "for which a merit time allowance may not be received."! It also includes

These include all A-I felonies, manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular
manslaughter in the first and second degrees, criminally negligent homicide, sex offenses, offenses
relating to sexualperformances by minors, and incest. They also include extortion, larceny,
criminal possessionof stolen property in excess of$50,OOO.OO and any offense committed in
anotherjurisdictionifit contains all ofthe elements of any of the above offenses and the victim
was either a New York State resident ofthe crime occurred in New York.
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grand larceny in the second and fourth degrees, and criminal possession of stolen
property in the second degree.
The new law does not apply, however, to any drug offenses under Penal Law section
220 or 221 or to the crimes of welfare fraud and gambling. So, if you have been
convicted of a drug offense, the law does not apply to you, even if your conviction is
for felony in the first degree or a "B" felony.
In short, "funds of a convicted person" means essentially any money that you may
receive, excluding child support and earned income, so long as you have been

convicted ofone ofthe above specified offenses.
3.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF ONE OF
THE SPECIFIED CRIMES AND I RECEIVE "FUNDS OF A
CONVICTED PERSON?"

Basically, if you have been convicted of one of the specified crimes and you receive
"funds of a convicted person" in excess of $10,000.00, the State Crime Victims'
Board must be notified.
For this notification obligation to take effect, however, two conditions must be met.
First, the money at issue must really be "funds of a convicted person." That means
they must be funds, not including "earned income or child support payments" paid to
or owed to a person convicted of one of the specified offenses discussed in section 2,
above.
Second, the funds at issue must have a "value, combined value or aggregate value"
that exceeds or will exceed $10.000.00.
If both of these conditions are met, the Crime Victims' Board must be notified.
The notification requirement is accomplished in three ways. First, the statute states
that whenever any person or entity, including the State or any subdivision of the State,
agrees to pay any person convicted of one of the specified crimes funds whose "value,
combined value or aggregate value...exceeds ... $10,000.00" it must give written notice
to the Crime Victims' Bureau. See Executive Law § 632-a(2)
Second, the statute requires that the Department if Correctional Services notify the Crime
Victims' Board whenever an inmate receives "funds of a convicted person" in excess
of $10,000.00. See Correction Law § SOO-c.
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Finally, the statute states that "in all other instances" where a payment involves "funds'
of a convicted person" the convicted person himse!fmust notify the Crime Victims'
Board of the receipt of the funds, where the funds exceed $10,000.00.
Thus, one way or another, the statute assures that the Crime Victims Board will be
notified if you receive "funds of a convicted person" in excess of $10,000.00.

4.

WHAT DOES THE CRIME VICTIMS' BOARD DO WHEN IT
RECEIVES NOTICE OF A PAYMENT OF FUNDS OF A
CONVICTED PERSON OF MORE THAN $10,OOO.OO?

The new law states that upon receipt of a notification that "funds of a convicted
person"have been or will be paid to a convicted person the Crime Victims' Board is
required to notify all known victims of the crime for which the person receiving the
funds was convicted.
A "crime victim" is defined in the law as (i) the victim of the offense; (ii) the
representative of the crime victim; (iii) a good samaritan (i.e., someone who was
injured trying to assist the victim of a crime) or (iv) the Crime Victims' Board itself, if
it has received an application for financial assistance from the victim.

5.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE CRIME VICTIM HAS BEEN
NOTIFIED THAT AN INMATE HAS RECEIVED FUNDS?

The new statute states that crime victims shall have the right to bring a civil action to
recover money damages from a person convicted of a crime of which they were the
victim.
The statute provides three different statutes of limitation for such a suit. First, any
crime victim may bring a suit against a person convicted of a crime in which they were
injured within seven years of the conviction for the crime, regardless of the crime of
conviction or whether the convicted person has received "funds of a convicted
person."
Second, a crime victim who was the victim of one of the crimes specified in section 2,
above, may bring a suit against the person convicted of that crime within ten years of
the conviction.
Finally, a crime victim may bring suit against the person convicted of the crime of
which he or she was a victim at any time within three years of the "discovery" of
any "funds of the convicted person" as defined in sections 1 and 2, above.
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So, for example, if the Crime Victims' Board notifies a person who was thevictim of'
your crime that you have recently received "funds of a convicted person," - that is,
you have been convicted of one of the specified crimes, and you have recently
received money that was not earned income or child support payments - the victim
would have three years from the date of the notification within which to sue you for
money damages, even if such a lawsuit would otherwise be barred by the seven or ten
year statute of limitations.
The statute also states that if a crime victim brings suit against you, they must notify
the Crime Victims' Board. The Crime Victims' Board, in turn, is authorized to act in
the crime victim's behalf in order to avoid the "wasting" - i.e., spending - of the
funds. It can do this by seeking any preliminary remedy that may otherwise be
available to a plaintiff in a civil action to prevent the wasting of assets, such as
attachment or injunction. In other words, if a crime victim brings a suit against you,
the Crime Victims' Board has the right to apply to a court to hold or freeze your
money while the case is being litigated.

6.

CAN I AVOID THE EFFECTS OF THIS STATUTE BY GIVING ALL
OF MY MONEY TO SOMEONE ELSE, OR DIRECTING THAT
ANY MONEY OWED TO ME BE GIVEN TO SOMEONE ELSE?

Probably not. The statute applies both to convicted persons and their
"representatives."
A "representative" is defined in Executive Law § 621 as "one who represents or
stands in the place of another person, including but not limited to an agent, an
assignee, an attorney, a guardian, a committee, a conservator, a partner, a receiver, an
administrator, an executor or an heir of another person, or a parent of a minor."
So, for example, if you try and give your money to another person, or direct that the
money be given to another person, that person would become your "assignee", or
representative, and all of the provisions of the statute would apply: The Crime
Victims' Board would have to be notified, they would have .to attempt to notify the
victim(s) of the crime, and victim(s) could sue both you and your representative.

7.

IS THERE ANY MONEY THAT IS EXCLUDED FROM THE
NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT?

Yes. The statute excludes both "earned income" and child support payments from the
notification requirement.

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The statute defines "earned income" as "income derived from one's own labor or
through active participation in a business as distinguished from, for example,
dividends or investments."
Since both "earned income" and child support payments are excluded from the
definition of "funds of a convicted person" they do not have to be reported to the
Crime Victims' Board, even if you receive more than $10,000.00.
That does not mean, however, that "earned income" would not be liable to a crime
victim if he or she were to win a judgment against you. It only means that such
income would not have to be reported to the Crime Victim's Board, were it received.

8.

WHAT IF I SETTLE OR WIN A LAWSUIT AGAINST THE STATE?

Money that you may win in a suit against the State (or anyone else) is also considered
"funds of a convicted person"- if you have been convicted of one of the specified
crimes - and so it, too, would have to be reported to the Crime Victims' Board if the
payment exceeds $10,000.00. Executive Law 632-a. See also, Correction Law § 500-c.

However, the statute provides that if money you receive as the result of a judgment in a
lawsuit represents "compensatory damages", ten percent of that money is immune to a
judgment on behalf of a crime victim.
In other words, if you win $20,000.00 in a lawsuit against the Department of
Correctional Services, alleging that they used excessive force against you, and, later,
the victim of your crime sues you for damages for injuries that you caused during the
course of your crime, $2,000.00 of the money you won in your suit against DOCS
would be immune from any judgment the victim might get against you.

The statute requires that in order to determine what portion of any award you might
receive is subject to this rule, the court must first deduct attorneys fees from the
compensatory damages. Thus, if you win $20,000.00 in compensatory damages, and
$5,000.00 is supposed to be paid to you attorney, the court will deduct the $5,000.00
before determining how much of your award is protected from the crime victim. So,
in that example, you would be left with $15,000.00 after the payment of fees and only
$1,5000.00 would be immune from a victim's judgment.
This rule only applies to compensatory damages. It does not apply, for instance, to
punitive damages. Thus, if you win $10,000.00 in compensatory damages, but
$50,000.00 in punitive damages, this rule would only protect 10% of the $10,000.00
dollars awarded for compensatory damages.

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9.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT IS IMMUNE TO A
JUDGMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CRIME VICTIM?

Yes. The statute also states that the first one thousand dollars deposited in your inmate
account is immune from any judgment that a crime victim may obtain against you.
This sum is in addition to the 10% compensatory damages exclusion discussed in
section 8, above. Thus, if you have $1,000.00 in your inmate account, and you win
$20,000.00 in compensatory damages in a lawsuit, $2,000.00 of the latter plus the
$1,000.00 already in your account would be immune to suit.

10.

DOES THIS STATUTE APPLY TO ME EVEN IF I HAVE BEEN
RELEASED FROM PRISON?

Yes, it does. The statute applies to persons who are serving an undischarged
indeterminate, determinate or definite sentence, including persons serving some form
of post-release supervision, such as parole.
The statute also applies for three years cifter you have completed your maximum term,
or have been discharged from parole -- but in that case only funds that are paid to you
as a result of "any interest, right, right of action, asset share, claim, recovery or benefit
of any kind" that accrued prior to the expiration of your sentence would have to be
reported to the Crime Victims' Board. So, for example, if you received an inheritance
two years after your maximum term had expired, you would not have to report that to
the Crime Victims' Board, because it did not "accrue" while you were serving your
sentence. If, on the other hand, you settle a lawsuit about something that happened
while you were incarcerated, two years after your maximum term has expired, you
would have to report that to the Crime Victims' Bureau, because the right to sue
accrued while your sentence was still running.
If you receive earned income during a period when you are supposed to be under
parole supervision, but you are not in compliance with the terms of you parole (you
are delinquent) that income will become subject to the reporting requirements, even
though it would not be otherwise.

11.

WHERE CAN I READ THIS NEW LAW FOR MYSELF?

Unfortunately, the new law was passed in a complicated way. It was passed as a series
of amendments to a large number of different sections of law. It contains
amendments, for instance, to the Executive Law, the Corrections Law, the Civil

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Practice Law, the Surrogate's Court Act and the Criminal Procedure Law, among
others. Thus, there is no one single place to view the whole law.
The most important parts of the law, however - those defining "funds of convicted
person" and stating what the reporting requirements are, can be found in N ew York's
Executive Law section 632-a. You should be able to find this in your law library. Since
this is a new law, you will probably need to check the "pocket part" to see the
amendments to section 632-a. Your law librarian should be able to help you with this.

12.

A CAUTION

The above is just a brief review of the most relevant parts of this new law. There are
many details that are not discussed in this memorandum. If you have more specific
questions about how this new law might apply to you, write to Prisoners' Legal
Services of N ew York, Central Intake, 118 Prospect St., Suite 307, Ithaca, NY 14850.

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