Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) Alone Will Not Support Civil Commitment of Sex Offender

The Second Department noted that the diagnosis that a sex offender suffers from anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) is insufficient to justify civil commitment:

A diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder (hereinafter ASPD) “has so little relevance to the controlling legal criteria of Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03(i) that it cannot be relied upon to show mental abnormality for [Mental Hygiene Law] article 10 purposes” … . Since ASPD was the sole diagnosis underlying the jury’s finding that the appellant suffers from a mental abnormality as defined in Mental Hygiene Law § 10.03(i), the finding was not supported by legally sufficient evidence, and the petition must be dismissed … .  Matter of State of New York v Odell A., 2015 NY Slip Op 07851, 2nd Dept 10-28-15